V8 diesel mooted for Bentley SUV
* New Bentley SUV launches in 2016 * V8 diesel power being considered * Price starts at 'around £140,000'...
The all-new Bentley SUV, due to be launched in 2016, could be the first model from the company to be offered with diesel power.
Well-placed insiders revealed to What Car? that diesel power is being considered and VW Group boss, Martin Winterkorn, is known to be keen on the idea.
Business plans for a diesel Bentley SUV are currently being drawn up, but it’s thought that it will be necessary for it to compete with the likes of the Range Rover. The diesel would most probably be a V8 from within the VW Group, such as the one currently available in the Porsche Cayenne. The same engine could also end up in the Flying Spur saloon.
Company boss, Dr Wolfgang Schreiber, has already admitted to What Car? that it will be the first Bentley to be offered with a plug-in hybrid system. The hybrid's hardware will also come from elsewhere in the VW Group. ‘Being part of the VW Group really helps us with technologies like this, because they're really expensive to engineer.' said Schreiber.
Bentley won’t announce any pricing for the SUV until closer to the 2016 launch, but an insider hinted that it will ‘start where Range Rover stops’, so expect it to be around £140,000 for the base model.
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