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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.

The UK votes for Brexit and it will impact automakers

It's the first morning after the United Kingdom voted for what's become known as Brexit – that is, to leave the European Union and its tariff-free internal market. Now begins a two-year process in which the UK will have to negotiate with the rest of the EU trading bloc, which is its largest export market, about many things. One of them may be tariffs, and that could severely impact any automaker that builds cars in the UK. This doesn't just mean companies that you think of as British, like Mini and Jaguar. Both of those automakers are owned by foreign companies, incidentally. Mini and Rolls-Royce are owned by BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover by Tata Motors of India, and Bentley by the VW Group. Many other automakers produce cars in the UK for sale within that country and also export to the EU. Tariffs could damage the profits of each of these companies, and perhaps cause them to shift manufacturing out of the UK, significantly damaging the country's resurgent manufacturing industry. Autonews Europe dug up some interesting numbers on that last point. Nissan, the country's second-largest auto producer, builds 475k or so cars in the UK but the vast majority are sent abroad. Toyota built 190k cars last year in Britain, of which 75 percent went to the EU and just 10 percent were sold in the country. Investors are skittish at the news. The value of the pound sterling has plummeted by 8 percent as of this writing, at one point yesterday reaching levels not seen since 1985. Shares at Tata Motors, which counts Jaguar and Land Rover as bright jewels in its portfolio, were off by nearly 12 percent according to Autonews Europe. So what happens next? No one's terribly sure, although the feeling seems to be that the jilted EU will impost tariffs of up to 10 percent on UK exports. It's likely that the UK will reciprocate, and thus it'll be more expensive to buy a European-made car in the UK. Both situations will likely negatively affect the country, as both production of new cars and sales to UK consumers will both fall. Evercore Automotive Research figures the combined damage will be roughly $9b in lost profits to automakers, and an as-of-yet unquantified impact on auto production jobs. Perhaps the EU's leaders in Brussels will be in a better mood in two years, and the process won't devolve into a trade war. In the immediate wake of the Brexit vote, though, the mood is grim, the EU leadership is angry, and investors are spooked.

Bentley names new CEO for the Americas

Bentley has announced a shift in its upper ranks that will see Michael Winkler take the reins as head of its operations in the Americas. A longtime sales executive and regional manager, Winkler has worked for Porsche in locations around the world, and comes to Bentley from his previous position as director of Australian operations for Jaguar Land Rover. In his new capacity as president and CEO of Bentley Motors Inc. – the office responsible for handling the brand's operations across the Americas – Winkler will report to Kevin Rose, the Bentley board member for sales and marketing. Winkler succeeds Christophe Georges, who moves back to the head office as director of product and marketing. The British automaker has 53 dealerships across the Americas, accounting for 29 percent of its global sales last year. Its American operations are based at 2200 Ferdinand Porsche Drive in Herndon, VA. MICHAEL WINKLER NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO OF BENTLEY MOTORS INC. (Crewe/Herndon 26th January 2015) Bentley Motors today announced that Michael Winkler will become President and Chief Executive Officer of Bentley Motors Inc., the regional office for Bentley Motors in the Americas, with effect from 1st April 2015. He succeeds Christophe Georges, who was recently appointed Director of Product and Marketing for Bentley's global organisation. Winkler will report directly to Kevin Rose, Bentley's Member of the Board for Sales, Marketing and Aftersales. Rose commented: "The Americas region plays a key part in Bentley's global success, our biggest market with more Bentley customers than anywhere else in the world. I am delighted to welcome Michael to Bentley, and look forward to working with him to drive our brand and network presence further." Winkler has more than 30 years of experience in the automotive industry, holding a number of international positions, working with Porsche in Germany, North America and Australia, and joins Bentley from Jaguar Land Rover, where he held the position of Managing Director of the company's Australian division. The Americas remained Bentley's number one market throughout 2014, closing the year delivering 3,186 cars, up from the 2013 number of 3,140. This accounted for 29% of total global deliveries. There are 53 Bentley dealerships throughout the Americas, with the corporate headquarters based in Herndon, Virginia.