Bentley is considering the development of two new models for the international market after its SUV, currently in the prototype stage, is launched internationally in 2016.
Chairman and chief executive officer Wolfgang Dürheimer said the company is looking at launching a two-seater sports car or a more conventional model that will sit between the Continental and Mulsanne. The company will concentrate first on whichever is more profitable, he said. "My own preference would be to build them both" said Dürheimer, "providing a business case for each can be made," he told our sister publication, Autocar UK.
Planning for the models is included in a new R&D spending round, the biggest in Bentley's history. The company will spend 800 million pounds (around Rs 6,482.3 crore) between now and 2016, mostly at Crewe, England, on new model development.
The said SUV, which is currently in prototype stage, will appear towards the end of 2015 and reach its first customers in 2016, Durheimer said. It will be powered by a redesigned version of the W12 engine. The new SUV will also be the first to get a plug-in hybrid powertrain with a 48.3km battery-only range, which Bentley will eventually introduce as a "core technology" for its model line-up.
The SUV, according to Dürheimer, will have its air suspension tuned for coping with suburban speed bumps than extreme off-road conditions, is also likely to be the first diesel Bentley, featuring an adapted version the 4.2-litre V8 diesel already used by Audi."We will offer the fastest, most powerful and most exclusive SUV on the market," Dürheimer added.