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Bentley Bentayga V8 Design Series embraces the darkness

It is a truism that designers love the color black, and the hue features prominently in the Bentley Bentayga V8 Design Series. Outside, the Design Series comes standard with the Bentayga's optional Blackline package, which includes black trim, black exhaust outlets, and a body-color lower front fascia. The Design Series also gets a special set of seven-spoke Paragon alloy wheels in dark gray. In a trick seen also on — ahem — Rolls-Royce, the wheels feature self-leveling center badges, which means the "B" is never at an incorrect angle. Designers hate that. While the exterior is offered in colors other than black, the interior comes exclusively in black (Bentley's "Beluga"), but with a contrasting accent color — red, orange, white, or blue — that runs across the dash and on the sides of the center console. It is also seen in the seat leather perforations and in the binding of the deep-pile floor mats. Carbon-fiber trim on the dashboard and door panels has a special diamond-weave pattern, while gloss-black center console trim provides still more blackness. A Breitling clock in the dash is not black — it has a mother-of-pearl face. Other included goodies are "Comfort" seats, door sills with an illuminated "Bentley" treadplate, and drilled-alloy pedals. The Design Series is exclusive to the eight-cylinder Bentayga, which is powered by a 542-hp V8. We'd say that buyers of the 12-cylinder model or the Bentayga Hybrid are out of luck but they can probably lean on Bentley's Mulliner in-house customizing operation to approximate something close. But then, if you're going the full Mulliner route, why not get a little more imaginative? Maybe with something like the Bentayga for falconry or this paean to fly fishing? Just be sure to spec those self-leveling wheels — after all, one's B should always be upright.

Bentley EXP 100 GT is an electric vision of luxury in 2035

Bentley has just pulled the wraps off its latest concept car, and it's predictably opulent and indulgent. It's called the Bentley EXP 100 GT, which is a nod to the company's 100th anniversary this year, and it's a look at where Bentley wants to be in the year 2035. It's fully electric, has full autonomous capability, and is draped in high-end materials and outrageous design. The design really is striking. Its carbon fiber and aluminum body is enormous at 19 feet long, yet it's just a two-door coupe. The front overhang is nearly nonexistent, but the tail stretches way behind the back wheels. Signature round headlights blend into a fully illuminated grille. Even the hood ornament and center trim piece on the hood light up. The doors open in a scissor fashion just like a Lamborghini. At the back, the car features OLED taillights. The wheels even have active aerodynamic panels, and apparently the Pirelli tires can, at least conceptually, change their pattern and contact patch for various driving conditions. Under the sizable yet slinky skin is a fully electric powertrain. It features four motors, one for each wheel, to provide full torque vectoring. They deliver a lot of torque, too, at 1,106 pound-feet. Bentley says the EXP 100 GT should hit 60 mph in under 2.5 seconds and have a top speed of 186 mph. The battery pack can provide up to 435 miles of range, and can be charged to 80% capacity in 15 minutes. The car can be driven fully autonomously or manually. The EXP 100 GT naturally has an over-the-top interior to match the exterior and powertrain. It can be configured to seat two to four people. It's trimmed with 5,000-year-old wood salvaged from peat bogs, and copper has been infused with it. Fabric trim features fiber optics woven in for illuminated patterns. The leather is not from animals, but rather created from byproducts of wine making. Crystal is featured heavily, too, and it is used for getting information about the onboard AI. The AI system works to keep you comfortable, and to do so, it monitors your mood with biometrics, even detecting your blood pressure. It can alter the amount of light in the cabin, the temperature and other settings. A unique feature of the car is the ability to simulate lighting conditions from past drives if the current weather is dreary. The car even has a unique scent that can be applied to the cabin that's a mix of sandalwood and moss. Will we see a Bentley like this reach production in 2035? Time will tell.

2020 Bentley Continental GT V8 First Drive Review | 8 is the new baker's dozen

Certain objects are so well known for arriving in groups of twelve that their dodecameralism is almost presumed. This list includes eggs, donuts, roses, inches, hours, months, human ribs, days of Christmas and, correlatively, drummers drumming. We can add to that group the number of cylinders under the hood of a contemporary Bentley. Since 2003, when the venerable British brand rolled out its modern Continental GT, it has sold more than 70,000 of these models, a notable number with an inventive, twin-turbocharged 12-cylinder engine, arrayed in a W configuration. Unfortunately, the flying-B brand has been having some difficulty meeting certification requirements for its alluring, all-new, 12-cylinder-equipped Continental GT coupe and convertible, which have yet to appear in the States, despite a full two years having lapsed since their unveiling. Fortunately, to stem the tide of demand, the crew from Crewe has certified a version of the Porsche-designed 542-horsepower, 568 pound-feet 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8 from the Panamera for use in their new two-door, backed up by an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. It will be available for purchase here, this fall — before it is offered to any other market — by those with 220,000 spare dollars. Even more fortunate, we just had the chance to drive it through the coastal, mountainous and curvy vineyard regions of Northern California, and we can assure you that, while we still believe Bentley GTs deserve twelve cylinders, eight is the new baker's dozen. Unless you've spent extended time piloting the Continental GT W12 through some of the most beautiful mountainous regions of Europe and America, as we have, you might not notice the one-third reduction in cylinders, or the 84-horsepower depreciation in output. According to Bentley, the less powerful but lighter motor adds only 0.2 seconds to the 0-60 run (3.8 versus 3.6 for the coupe, 3.9 versus 3.7 for the convertible) not enough of a differential to tip our own internal accelerometer. It also foregoes cresting 200 mph like its bigger brother can, not that there's anywhere you can hit these speeds safely in America anyway. The V8 also, as referenced above, subtracts a couple hundred pounds from the total weight of the GT, not that this matters all that much in a vehicle that weighs 2.5 tons, but it does take a modicum of gravitational pressure off the front axle. Is it noticeable on first blush?