Bentley has launched some of the most spectacular looking cars worldwide. The brand is one of the most sought after luxury car brand. With the launch of various high-end offerings suited for plutocrats, the company has followed a rather different approach by announcing the launch of an upcoming SUV.
What’s Bentayga?
In January 2015, Bentley had officially unveiled the name Bentayga. Inspired by Taiga, the world’s largest transcontinental snow forest, and composing the first four letters of Bentley comes the name Bentayga. Bentley had supposedly drawn inspiration from the rugged peak of the Roque Bentayga in Gran Canaria, Canary Island.
The Bentayga is a four seat, five-door luxury SUV that has a uni-body construction. This car is a VW offering and it does make perfect sense that Volkswagen had its W12 engine mated to this beast SUV. This all wheel drive vehicle is based on the Volkswagen Group MLB platform, same as the one used in the 2nd generation Audi Q7.
The Bentayga is the company’s first production SUV and is an evolution of the 2012 Bentley EXP 9 F concept car.
Design:
The design team behind the making of this marvel had pushed limits to deliver an innovative design that carries a beautifully sculpted one-piece fender that includes a stunning light design. Bentley employed all of the VW Group’s experience in aluminum with hot super form technology used to shape the huge fender panel with enough precision to allow a crease with a 3mm radius plus a delightful sculpting that runs alongside it. The Bentayga’s twin headlights provide the perfect balance of technology and jewellery’ with knurled beveling around the inside and a Bentley logo embedded in the LED lights. The precision with which the headlights are recessed in the fender panel is again down to the super form process, yet the lenses sit flush with the bodywork.
The outer LED daytime running lights change color to act as indicators, while the high-pressure headlamp washers actually sit in the centre of the outer lights. The Bentayga is 5141mm long, 1742 high and 2223mm wide – bigger in every respect than either the Q7 or the Cayenne, but slightly shorter and a lot lower than a Range Rover Sport. The exterior design makes the Bentayga the most luxurious SUV in the world.
Interiors:
Intricate level of attention has gone into the interior as Bentley’s head of interior design Darren Day explains. “We’ve used a similar ‘winged’ design to the dash as in Mulsanne and GT, but with upper and lower wings,” he told us, “And we’ve worked hard to integrate the technology in a Bentley way.”
The interior cabin is opulent as a king’s throne. The innards are perfect enough to make you forget what’s on the outside. To start with, the car has Fifteen veneered pieces of wood trim that go into the cabin and the customers have the liberty to choose among 7-different varieties of dead tree to accent one of 15 shades of naturally tanned bull hide. The leather covers for this SUV are 22-way adjustable (that’s right, twenty two way adjustable) front chairs with massage functionality. It also has 18-way adjustable rear seats in 4-place models. To add to comfort, there is a rear bench facility too. And if you need more from an impromptu ride towards a lovely sunset or a serene locale, you get a folding “even seat”that is upholstered to match the Bentayga’s interior.
To add to this, the Bentayga has an 8-inch touch screen that gains access to the infotainment system that includes night vision and a head-up display. It also includes safety features such as Traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control and self-parking.Rear seat passengers can get a Bentley-branded 10.2-inch Android tablet, which will make use of on-board wifi.Rear passengers get the same level of opulence as front seat passengers.
Engine and performance:
The Bentayga will be the first car to receive Bentley;s new Twin-turbo W12 engine. The 6.0 L twin-turbo will have an estimated 600 hp and 900 Nm of torque. This will enable the bentayga to thrust from 0 to 100 kmph under 5 seconds. This vehicle has an 8-speed transmission that splits torque with 60% to rear and 40% to the front. The Bentayga can touch a maximum speed of a whooping 301 kmph. The car carries an active anti-roll system (EWAS) that reduces the body roll.
Price:
The official price of the Bentayga is in the dark. However, with all the speculated prices floating around the internet, the Bentayga should be aggressively priced in the likes of a Rolls Royce.
Wrap up:
Interestingly enough, the Bentayga was a showstopper at the Frankfurt Motor show this year. Bentley is said to have invested £800 million in a new facility in Crewe. It has also hired 1000 employees to meet the demand for 3000 to 4000 SUV’s annually.