Midway through its centenary year, we catch up with Bentley, spotlighting the new Bentayga, and the new Continental GT’s centenary year and before pandemic planning became everyone’s focus, the company had a number of special events, launches and new models lined up. For the most part, it’s managed to keep to its schedule, even if the usual glamorous launch itineraries have been swapped out for socially distanced virtual events and car loans.
This year also saw the retirement of Bentley’s Mulsanne model, the company’s former flagship. Cut from a different cloth than its suite of core models, the Bentley Mulsanne was a true throwback to an earlier era, hand-built on a bespoke platform and incorporating the final version of Bentley’s venerable L-Series V8 engine, originally introduced in 1959.
Since the original Bentayga’s debut, Bentley has gone on to create a triumphant new version of its Continental Grand Tourer, available both in droptop and coupe form with a choice of W12 or V8. It also produced a new generation Flying Spur, the four-door limousine that takes the reigns from the Mulsanne as the new flagship. Both GT and Flying Spur are effortlessly elegant, exceptionally powerful automobiles that also manage to be desirable luxury objects.
On the road, the V8 Bentayga embodies that most fundamental of Bentley qualities – effortless power. You sit high, simultaneously commanding over and isolated from all that surrounds you. Refinement is second-to-none, with the engine relegated to a distant hushed rumble at low speeds. Nosing the beast around tight city streets isn’t without its perils, but the cameras and sensors do a good job of guiding you away from embarrassment and eternal YouTube infamy.
have a mechanical complexity akin to that of the highest-end audio or mechanical wristwatch - admirable to certain quarters but baffling to the rest of us. These are truly the last of the V8s. Bentley is working furiously on every aspect of electrification, hoping that the switch from internal combustion to battery is as seamless as possible. Both GT and Bentayga have reached their apogee; it remains to be seen where next to go.
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Source: The Independent - 🏆 80. / 59 Read more »