Conservative Bentley is set to shock next week's Geneva show with a high-performance GT car.
While noted for its grace-with-pace Continental GT, this time Bentley is going after fellow Brit Aston Martin and Ferrari’s reborn California.
The new car will mark the return of Wolfgang Durheimer to the CEO’s chair at Bentley and, though officially just a concept car to test public reaction, the GT concept has already been through a full product and sales analysis internally.
Leaked midway through last year by Durheimer himself, the GT concept will be powered by an uprated version of the Audi-supplied biturbo 4.0-litre V8 engine will have at least 370kW of power and more than 800Nm of torque.
The engine has the additional advantage of being flexible and with yet more performance in the development pipeline. That said, Bentley’s model rollouts would make a production version of the GT concept unlikely before around 2018.
The concept will be front-engined and though the interior and the body will be designed by Bentley, it will all sit inside the same Volkswagen Group MSB architecture that will host the next Continental GT, Porsche's next Panamera and the still-paused Lamborghini Asterion.
A production version of the GT concept would be priced in the same ballpark as the Continental GT, and would push Bentley’s range out to five models, including the upcoming Bentayga SUV.
It could lead to volumes of around 12,000 a year for Bentley, and Durheimer has even hinted that he could squeeze another sedan/limo between the Continental Flying Spur and the Mulsanne.
At the Swiss show next week, Bentley will also stage the world debut of facelifted Continental GT two-door and Flying Spur four-door models