Next-gen Bentley Continental GT coming 2018

In automotive terms the Bentley Continental GT is old. It was born in 2003 and has remained fundamentally unchanged ever since.

The Continental GT is one of the oldest 'new cars' money can buy today, but all that will change in 2018 when the company reveals the new second-generation model.

Sharing parts through their Volkswagen Group ownership, the new Bentley Continental GT will be based on the same high-tech underpinnings as the new Porsche Panamera, a technological tour de force.

The new MSB platform will allow Bentley to craft a far more advanced and comfortable Conti GT than before. It's likely to shed weight in a move that will improve its dynamic nous, too - up to 150kg if the Panamera is a guide.

Currently priced between $402,600 and stretching up to an incredible $626,000 for the range-topping, tyre-shredding Continental Supersports Convertible, the new luxury sports car will arrive in 2018 with a more athletic look.

"So, 2018 will be the year of new Continental GT," confirmed Uday Senapati, head of technical operations at Bentley Mulliner, the company's in-house bespoke operation centre.

"It'll be 100 per cent new. New platform, new propulsion systems, new car, pretty much new everything," he added.

This suggests the company's threat of introducing electrified powertrains across its range sooner rather than later may come true, with a plug-in hybrid version looking likely, potentially the hybrid V6 out of the Panamera.

Tried-and-tested engines including a 4.0-litre V8 and beefy 6.0-litre W12 turbo petrol engines are expected to feature strongly, potentially with a few new bits and bobs to increase muscle power.

Senapati said the new visual styling of the next Bentley Continental GT will be a progressive take on the current model, rather than a dramatic rethink of the entire design.

"It will stand out as a new GT, more than certainly. But it has to be an evolution of the GT, because now, finally, since we launched this car in 2003, it's been there 14 years, and from a design language point of view it carries on from the 1952 Continental R Type, so we shouldn't lose that heritage.

"The design cues will be carried on but in a leaner, more agile formation," he said.

Expect the new GT to pilfer a few design cues from the recent EXP12 Speed 6e concept seen at the Geneva motor show; particularly the headlights.

Senapati's Mulliner division - which is also plotting a Bentayga that is custom-made for falconry - will follow up the Continental GT's reveal with its own take on the new model, an ultra-exclusive GT in 2019. Expect convertible and high-performance models to emerge in due course, too.

"We're working on around 12 months from the launch [of the new Continental GT] to reveal a Mulliner variant of the GT, which will be the most luxurious level of the GT," he said.

A bread-and-butter model for Bentley at present, until Bentayga SUV hits its straps, the Continental GT is a crucial model for the brand. Bentley sales were up by 20 per cent in Australia in 2016, year on year.