2022 Bentley Continental Gt Speed on 2040-cars

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And the first Bentley Bentayga goes to... Queen Elizabeth II

The Bentley Bentayga aims to be a lot of things to a select few people. But as the world's fastest, most powerful, and (arguably) most luxurious SUV on the market, it could all boil down to bragging rights for some. So who will get to enjoy the privilege of receiving the very first one? Probably the one person in the world who needs to brag the least: Queen Elizabeth II. The sovereign monarch of the United Kingdom (and more current and former commonwealth countries than we care to count) already rides around in a Bentley State Limousine specially made for the purpose and based on the old Arnage. But she'll now be adding a new Bentayga to her royal motorpool, using it specifically to go hunting at one of her estates in Scotland. She does, after all, own several in the country – including the official Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh and (more likely) her private Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire. Wherever she chooses to drive it, that's got to hurt for Jaguar Land Rover. The rival British automaker has been supplying the royal family with Range Rovers for years. Then again, both companies – alongside Aston Martin and Vauxhall – all hold royal warrants for supplying goods to Her Majesty. Given how many vehicles the royal family must own (and how the Queen has been known to drive herself about), we're sure there's room for all of Britain's finest. Watch Bentley's American CEO Michael Winkler discuss the Bentayga with a spitting image of Rob Cordry in the video above from Bloomberg. Related Video:

Bentley reserves 99 Continental GT3-Rs for North America at $337k apiece

Whether they're powered by V8 or W12 engines, the Bentley Continental GT just keeps getting faster and faster. The new Continental GT Speed, for example, is the fastest road-going Bentley ever made, capable of reaching 206 miles per hour. And the Continental GT3-R is the quickest-accelerating Bentley yet, capable of hitting 60 in just 3.6 seconds.
In other words, if you want to get your hands on one, you'll need to act fast. Bentley is only making 300 examples of the GT3-R, but while it is said to have already sold out the entire production run, it has been kind enough to keep 99 examples on the side just for the North American market.
The road-going embodiment of the Continental GT3 racer, the GT3-R packs a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 tuned up to 572 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. That makes it 72 hp and 29 lb-ft stronger than the base Continental GT V8, or 43 hp and 14 lb-ft more muscular than the GT V8 S, about on par with the W12 model but 54 hp and 89 lb-ft shy of the latest GT Speed. But thanks to its lighter weight (inherent in the eight-cylinder model and stripped of a further 220 pounds in the GT3-R), it trounces them all in the sprint to 60.

Bentley announces its fifth model will debut May 10

Bentley announced it would debut "a fifth model" on Tuesday, May 10 to join the Continental GT, Continental GTC, Flying Speed and Bentayga. The notice included all kinds of wordplay suggesting extra length and roominess, Crewe members having "gone to new lengths" on the "long-awaited" vehicle that will bring "an extra dimension of on-board wellness," and so on. We can't be certain of what's coming, but we're willing to place a large wager that it's the extended-wheelbase Bentayga. A prototype of the stretched family conveyance with an enlarged wheelbase and grandiose rear doors was caught testing at various points throughout 2021. And the door card in the teaser vid matches that of the Bentayga, not that of the only other four-door Bentley makes, the Flying Spur. Step inside. 12:30 BST, 10.5.2022 pic.twitter.com/4H7YENbtTz — Bentley Motors (@BentleyMotors) April 29, 2022 We don't know how much additional knee space Bentley will grant to back-seat VIP types; were this another era, we're sure Bentley would never quantify it beyond "more ample." We'll find out on May 10. There could be other changes in store for the variant as well, the automaker promising "a breadth of capabilities beyond anything previously offered." If the teaser is correct, there's a nifty shade of purple on the way, too. Related video: