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Bentley Continental GT celebrates 20 years in production with one-off

Another automotive birthday this year: The Bentley Continental GT is getting a cake for being 20 years in production. The superluxe GT segment was neither new nor unpopulated when a Cypress Green Continental GT with VIN 20001 came off the production line in Crewe, England, in December 2003. It's just that nothing else combined as much speed, handling, and all-out luxury as the Bentley. That coupe also introduced the world to a 6.0-liter W12 engine making 550 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque back when the four-seat Ferrari 456M was getting 442 hp and 406 lb-ft. from its V12 and the two-seat Ferrari 575M was making "just" 508 hp and 434 lb-ft. from the same engine. With the 20th anniversary being celebrated with China dishware, it's fitting that Bentley used Auto Shanghai to introduce a one-off celebration in the form of a Continental GT S. This one comes in Magnetic Dark Grey Metallic over 22-inch black chrome and black wheels. Red accent lines embellish the mirror caps and form a hem around the base of the coupe. Inside, specialty division Mulliner's made a unique arrangement of Beluga (black) and Hotspur (red) leather against piano black trim. The bi-finish fascia puts Granite Stone above Grand Black veneer, separated by red pinstriping. Special badging and laser etching appears in places like the treadplates, center console, and veneers.  The carmaker plans events in the Western hemisphere at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, a global relay of Continental GTs crossing three continents to pass a custom Bentley baton. There will also be drive hubs at the HQ in Crewe and in Geneva, Switzerland where invited guests can drive all three Continental generations, the first- and second-generation examples coming from the Bentley Heritage Collection. The culmination comes in another one-off Continental GT inspired by the first unit produced that will debut during Monterey Car Week.    

2022 Bentley Flying Spur First Drive Review | Purple reign, purple reign

MALIBU, Calif. – When I first moved to New York City in the early 1990s, two careers before I became an automotive writer, I worked as a preschool teacher in Brooklyn. I rode my bike to work from Manhattan each day, over the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the most bountiful opportunities for car-spotting in a city with the nationÂ’s lowest rates of automobile ownership. The most notable vehicle I saw regularly was a stately and very violet Bentley sedan. The only thing more outrageous than its Azure Purple exterior color, and the distinctive rumbling of its signature 6.75-liter V8, was its vanity license plate. Seeming to signify that its owner was a proctologist or gastroenterologist, it read, MD TUSH. As I drove that car's descendant, an excessively purple Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid, I couldnÂ’t stop thinking of MD TUSH, whomever they were. Their flash. Their panache. Their dedication to being seen – even from the elevated bike path of New York's original suspension bridge. One could argue that this is part of the job of an occasion car like this, a $204,000 (base price) sedan that is as long as a Chevrolet Tahoe. It is supposed to make an impact. So it's counterintuitive that the Flying Spur Hybrid always starts off in EV Drive mode, which prioritizes the sole use of the rechargeable 14.1 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. It decidedly does not make an impact. I suppose that one cannot discount the element of surprise. But in that mode – one of three accessed through a metal button on the center consoleÂ’s button-resplendent surface – the big four-door skulks off with eerie silence, and will continue to do so for about 25 miles on the European WLTP cycle (EPA certification has not yet been completed, but it will likely be lower than the EU number), whereupon it needs 2.5 hours to charge with a fast charger of unspecified voltage via a conspicuous port on the left rear fender. As a preview of BentleyÂ’s promised all-electric future – which will begin with its first fully battery powered-vehicle in 2025, en route to a full-line voltaic conversion by 2030 – the Flying Spur has some allure. With its silence, thrust, and uncanny eeriness, electric power suits ultra-luxury limousines.

Bentley forging ahead with SUV development

Bentley has a whole mess of new models in the pipeline, including a completely new coupe, two-door and high-performance versions of the Mulsanne and an even more hard-core version of the Continental GT3-R. But the most vital product under development at Crewe is its upcoming new SUV, and that's what our spy photographers have caught undergoing testing.
This prototype appears to be the same one we spotted a couple of months ago, although this time the NewBentley.com stickers appear to have been taped over (presumably to call less attention to itself) and the whole thing is riding lower to the ground to better test its brakes and cooling systems.
While the form clearly shares much with the EXP 9 F concept that previewed its development at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, the design has clearly been worked over with a front end and tailgate that are easier on the eyes and more in keeping with the company's styling language.