News round-up: more racing-influenced Bentleys, and Jaguar Project 7 on track to sell out

* GT3-R will be followed by more hardcore models * All 300 examples 'accounted for' by Bentley dealers * Jaguar reporting strong early interest in Project 7...

News round-up: more racing-influenced Bentleys, and Jaguar Project 7 on track to sell out

Bentley

Bentley will produce more motorsport-influenced editions to follow up the new Continental GT3-R, and technology from the new model will be offered on regular Continental GTs in the near future.

Just 300 examples of the 572bhp GT3-R will be produced, but Bentley dealers have already pretty much accounted for all examples. The reception is likely to lead to further motorsport-influenced products in the future.

Bentley’s sales & marketing boss, Kevin Rose, told What Car?: ‘We’d very much like to have more products like this. We had interest from potential customers for a motorsport-influenced Continental from the moment we announced the GT racing campaign, so it was an obvious thing for us to do. We’ve been pleased with the amount of enthusiasm these people have for Bentley; they’re really terrific ambassadors for the brand.’

Bentley sources have also confirmed that some elements of the GT3-R’s specification are likely to be offered on regular editions soon. This includes the torque-vectoring system, which can control the torque delivered at each of the rear wheels to improve agility and handling balance.

Jaguar

Jaguar's new limited-edition Project 7 sports car is 'on track to sell out', according to a well-placed insider. Just 250 examples of the £135,000 car will be built, but demand from UK buyers is already on the verge of outstripping the planned allocation. Jaguar is said to have been particularly pleased by the interest from wealthy enthusiasts who do not currently own one of the company's models; several customers gave 'letters of interest' upon hearing of the limited production run, before any technical details were released.

The next major outing for the model will be at the famous Pebble Beach Concours in California.