2006 Bentley Contintal Flying Spur Blk/tan Only 27k Miles on 2040-cars

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Now you can order a Bentley with real stone trim

Order up a new Bentley and you'll have some choices to make. After choosing which model, you'll need to select from over a hundred standard exterior paint colors and a staggering array of trim options – and now, interior stone veneers. Mulliner will now outfit your Bentley with actual stone trim. Now we know what you're probably thinking: stone adds weight. But here's the kicker: Bentley's new stone veneers measure just 0.004 inches thick. That's less than the breadth of a human hair, and (according to the automaker) makes these trim pieces not only very lightweight, but also translucent. The rocks are sourced from quaries in India, cured using fiberglass and resin, and finished by the Mulliner coachbuilding team back at the factory in Crewe, England. Customers will be able to select between a natural finish or in four tints to install on a new Continental or Flying Spur. So if you were hoping for a little extra ballast in your 5,300-lb Bentayga or 6,000-lbs Mulsanne, we're afraid you'll just have to choose a different interior accent. STONE VENEERS BY MULLINER – THE NEXT LEVEL OF MODERN BRITISH LUXURY - Bentley pushes boundaries of cabin luxury with new and rare materials - Lightweight and contemporary feature developed by Mulliner - Four exclusive colours: Galaxy, Autumn White, Terra Red and Copper (Crewe, 04 January, 2016) Bentley Motors' bespoke coach-building division, Mulliner, is introducing the next level of modern British automotive luxury – stone veneers. This innovative interior finish utilises state-of-the-art stone veneer technology to make a luxurious, contemporary feature of a natural product formed over 200 million years. The slate and quartzite stone is sustainably sourced from hand-selected quarries in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, India – a nation with an ancient and rich culture of stone masonry. The sections of stone are split from larger pieces and cured using glass fibre and a bespoke resin. Finally, they are shaped and hand finished by Bentley's world-renowned Mulliner coachbuilding team at the company's headquarters in Crewe, England. The stone surfaces of the veneers are just 0.1 mm thick, meaning that they are both extremely light and translucent, allowing the elegant grain and pattern in the stone to be visible to the interior occupants.

Bentley Bentayga may spawn sportier fastback version

In the past few years, Bentley has shown us two different conceptions about what its future might look like in: the SUV that started life as the EXP 9 F concept and has now entered production as the Bentayga, and the EXP 10 Speed 6 concept that previews a future sports coupe from the stoic British marque. The next step is an SUV that combines a little of each of them. According to Automotive News, engineers and designers in Crewe are currently laying the groundwork for a crossover that would blend the tall form of the Bentayga with the roofline of the Speed 6. The result would be similar in form, we'd imagine, to the likes of the BMW X6 and Mercedes GLE Coupe, only even further upscale. We wouldn't be surprised to see more changes than the roofline and tail section, either, with a sportier front end and more avant-garde headlights (like those we saw on the Speed 6 concept) giving it a sportier, less stodgy appearance all around – and maybe, just maybe, a different nameplate. CEO Wolfgang Durheimer wants to get the fastbacked Bentayga variant ready by 2018 or 2019 – right around the time that Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, Maserati, and Lamborghini will be rolling out their debut crossovers. By that time, Bentley will have already have had the Bentayga on the market for two or three years, and wants to be ready to fight off the onslaught with something fresh. "Imagine the EXP 10 as an SUV. It doesn't look 'old Bentley, Durheimer told AN. "The Bentayga doesn't stop us from dreaming and looking down the road. The more success we have with it, the more we can take the best of it and run with it." Proceeding with the project will require Durheimer to get approval from the Volkswagen Group head office in Wolfsburg, but the business case seems like a slam dunk. The model would help Bentley (and VW) further capitalize on the $1 billion it already spent developing the Bentayga, following a successful business model laid out by rival BMW and which Germany's other automakers are quickly learning to emulate. This wouldn't be the first time he'd be seeking approval from Matthias Muller on such a project, either. Durheimer successfully ushered the Cayenne into production when he was head of R&D at Porsche and Muller was the brand's CEO.

2021 Bentley Flying Spur Speed spied undisguised, may be PHEV

The 2020 Bentley Flying Spur luxury sedan was just revealed a few months ago, but its high-performance Speed variant should be launching very soon. One of our spy photographers caught what appears to be a Flying Spur Speed completely undisguised. It follows the pattern of past Speed models in terms of style, but it may be powered by a hybrid powertrain, which would be a first for the Speed line. When it comes to the design, the Flying Spur Speed is quite subtle. The body is pretty much untouched except for the black mesh grilles. All the chrome trim has been changed over to gloss black as well, just as previous Speed models have done. At the back, the car now features quad exhaust tips that exit through the oval outlets in the bumper. The exterior also leads us to believe this is a hybrid. Looking closely at the back, you can see the factory fuel filler door nestled in the top of the right rear fender. Looking over to the left rear fender, you can just make out yet another small filler door ahead of the taillight. This door doesn't appear on the regular Flying Spur, so we believe it's an electric charger port door. The question is, what hybrid powertrain could it be using? It's likely not using the V6 hybrid from the Bentayga, since we've established that this is a Flying Spur Speed, but Bentley doesn't have any other plug-in hybrid powertrains at the moment. It's possible it could use a version of the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid V8 powertrain, which makes 677 horsepower and 626 pound-feet of torque. That would be more power than the regular Flying Spur's W12, if a bit less torque. And of course Bentley could probably tweak it for a bit more power. Then again, maybe Bentley will adapt some hybrid tech to its W12. Whatever the case may be, this should be a very interesting car. And since this is just a high-performance variant that's clearly pretty far in development, we should see it officially revealed soon. It would make sense for it to be launched for the 2021 model year and shown within a year.