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Bentley readying four-door coupe for 2018

Bentley purists have probably been tearing their hair out since we got our first glimpse of the EXP 9 F SUV Concept. "A Bentley SUV? " you could almost hear them saying, incredulous to the idea that an automaker actually wants to make money. Now, word is that the British brand might be jumping on the four-door-coupe bandwagon. The car, which would slot in below the Continental GT, and act as the new base model, would compete with the BMW M6 Gran Coupe and Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG, according to Car.
Size-wise, Car thinks it'd be in line with the Continental GT, at just over 15.5 feet long. It'd wear a price tag of 125,000 to 150,000 euro, which converts to $168,650 to $202,380. In reality, the US-spec baby Bentley would need to retail for no more than $130,000 to $170,000 if it wanted to truly capture the M6, Porsche Panamera and CLS63 crowd. Speaking of that Porsche, Car thinks the Bentley will ride on the same platform.
As is pointed out, the question of which platform this new model will ride on is an important one. The two possibilities are the D5 architecture of the next Audi A8 or the MSB platform, which will underpin the next-generation Panamera. Expect a 3.0-liter V6 and a 4.0-liter V8, both of which will receive special outfittings for duty in the Bentley, when it arrives in 2018. What do you think? Is there room in the Bentley family for a car below the Continental GT V8, and if so, is a four-door coupe the right choice? Let us know down in Comments.

Bentley officially returns to racing at Gulf 12hr

For a company with a tendency to name its cars after parts of the Circuit de la Sarthe like Arnage and Mulsanne, Bentley sure has been gone from endurance sportscar racing for a long time. It famously won the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times in the 1920s, but didn't come back until 68 years later to win again in 2003. That was the last time Bentley competed on the world stage... until now.
Bentley first revealed its rekindled racing ambitions with the Continental GT3 at the 2012 Paris Motor Show. The car would be developed for privateer racers, and that's all led up to this point. Team M-Sport, which you may know better for having run Ford's World Rally Championship team, was charged with developing the car, and it entered the new racecar this past weekend in the Gulf 12 Hours in Abu Dhabi. There, on the Yas Marina Circuit in the United Arab Emirates, the Continental GT3 diced it with GT3 versions of the likes of the Ferrari 458, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and McLaren 12C.
So how did it fare on its first time out? Well the race is split into two six-hour sessions, and the Conti finished third in the first heat (behind the AF Corse Ferrari and Black Falcon Benz) and fourth in the second (just edged out by another 458 entered by Kessel Racing). Not a bad outcome for Bentley's first race in a decade. And the Abu Dhabi race was essentially a dress rehearsal for next season when the Continental GT3 will be entered in the full 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series.

Bentley designer hints at even faster Continental GT3-R

Does Bentley have room in its Continental GT lineup for an even more extreme version than the new GT3-R? Luc Donckerwolke seems to think so. Speaking with Autocar, the Bentley design chief suggested that an even more performance-focused Continental GT could be in the works, potentially ditching the heavy all-wheel drive system in an effort to further reduce weight, improve handling and drop even more ticks off the 0-60 time that's already down to a best-yet 3.6 seconds in the GT3-R.
To borrow a page from the same playbook used not only by sister-companies Audi and Porsche but also by Renault and Jaguar (to name just a few), we'll tentatively call it the Continental GT3-RS. Whatever the name, though, power would likely come from an even more potent version of the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 co-developed with sister-company Audi. Considering that engine already produces 500 horsepower in the Continental GT V8, 521 hp in the V8 S and 572 hp in the GT3-R, we could be looking at as much as 600 horses to make it the most powerful V8 model to date. With that much juice, it would even eclipse some of the W12 models that start at 567 hp in the core Continental GT and range up to the 616 hp in the Speed, which currently ranks not only as the most powerful Conti yet, but also the fastest road car Bentley has ever made.
Donckerwolke says that Bentley has already sold the entire production run for the Continental GT3-R and that customers are already clamoring for something more focused. Younger buyers are likely to be even further drawn to the brand by the ne-plus-ultra Conti, especially if the racing team advanced from its current fifth place in the Blancpain Endurance Series standings.