Bentley Continental GT
* All the launches and news * First photos and videos of new cars * Replay our live coverage...
It's calm and serene on the Bentley stand here in Paris, with the new Continental GT to seduce your eyes. That's no bad thing, mind you, especially as it follows Bentley's usual iron-fist-in-a-velvet-glove approach.
The Continental GT was revealed during an online launch at the start of the month, but this is the first time it's been seen in the real world. Design-wise, it's not a million miles from its predecessor, but it has new headlights, squarer exterior styling and a refreshed interior with new seats.
Power play
It's powered by Bentley's formidable 6.0-litre, V12 engine, but it's been tuned to produce 567bhp, an increase of 15bhp. That's enough to propel the coupe from 0-62mph in 4.4 seconds not bad for a car that weighs over two tonnes. However, having said that, the new car is 65kg lighter than the previous model, but it manages an average of only 17.1mpg and emits 384g/km of CO2.
There is some good new on the environmental front, though, because it'll run on E85 bioethanol fuel, which Bentley estimates will reduce your well-to-wheel CO2 emissions by 70%.
Don't expect any change from 120,000.
Best executive cars 2024 – tested, rated and those to avoid
Great executive cars are comfortable, classy and well equipped, yet also cheap to run. Here we name the best 10 executive cars on sale in the UK – plus one we recommend avoiding