2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Bentley's SUV will be first of many plug-in hybrids

Bentley is not exactly a company known for its environmental credentials. Sure, it recently cut its water usage down by over a third, and given the relatively small number of vehicles it produces, the British firm's overall impact on the environment may be negligible compared to mass-market rivals. And of course, its affluent customers are hardly likely to feel the pinch of rising fuel costs, so Bentley's idea of engine downsizing has been going from twelve cylinders to eight.
That will all change with the launch of its first SUV, previewed by the controversial EXP 9 F concept and expected to be called Falcon. To hear Auto Express tell it, the luxo-ute is being designed from the get-go to incorporate a plug-in hybrid powertrain, slated to go on sale a year after the conventional version arrives late in 2015 or early 2016. But that's just the tip of the iceberg which Bentley is trying to help keep from melting.
Following the Falcon, other Bentleys are slated to get PHEV systems as well. It'll just take a while. That's because current models like the Continental and Mulsanne were never designed to incorporate PHEV powertrain systems in the first place. So while they may get them in the long run, their integration will likely have to wait until their replacements arrive.

Lamborghini, Bentley recalling models with carbon-ceramic brakes

An issue involving carbon-ceramic brakes has prompted Lamborghini and Bentley to recall certain models so equipped. The problem, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, revolves around the stainless steel screws that secure the brake rotors, which are prone to corrosion when exposed to salty conditions.
The recall affects 2007-2009 Lamborghini Gallardo coupes and Spyders, 2006-2010 Murcielago coupes and Roadsters and 2007-2011 Bentley Continental GTs, GTCs and Flying Spurs. All in all, some 1,136 vehicles are subject to the recall in the United States, including 263 Gallardos, 404 Murcielagos and 469 Continentals. The fix seems simple enough, with local Lamborghini and Bentley dealers replacing the problematic screws with new ones. The recall follows two notices recently issued for Audis as well. For further details, see the trio of recall notices below.

2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed

Meeting Bentley's 205-MPH Prince On The Autobahn
I'm travelling at the approximate speed of privilege. With the aluminum accelerator of the 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed buried to its neck in the high-pile carpet of the floorboard, the 6.0-liter twin-turbocharged W12 underhood is at full boast. The 616 furious British horses pumping under that long, proud prow set the German countryside to frappé with breathless ease, and with the sprawling sheetmetal of the coupe settled comfortably onto its haunches in eager anticipation of ever more thrust, it's clear this machine is content to consume endless kilometers of Autobahn in wide-mouthed gulps. There's an open lane of unrestricted tarmac unraveling before me, and I'm keen to oblige every thread of temptation singing in my chest. The speedometer has just clicked past 165 mph.
At this clip, the new crown jewel of the Bentley war chest is covering land at the rate of nearly one football field per second. The white lines on the road are beginning to fade into a solid stream, and I'm suddenly aware of the increasingly rapid heartbeat whispering the truth of my mortality in my ears. There's no looking anywhere other than as far to the horizon as possible, but even with my eyes set to long-range scan, it's clear that if something goes wrong at this velocity, they'll be burying an empty box in the hills of Tennessee. That little bit of trivia makes it all the more disconcerting when an ambling Volkswagen Jetta strays into my lane for no other reason than to take in the glorious sight of me manufacturing a stack of bricks in the quilted-leather driver's seat of someone else's $228,600 supercar.