Bentley to unveil its fastest, most powerful car at Geneva
January 28, 2009 by Karl Peskett
A press release came across our desks today, which needless to say had some at the CarAdvice office intrigued.
It read: “On March 3rd at the 2009 International Geneva Motor Show, Bentley will reveal its fastest, most powerful production car ever.” No need to read any further, sign me up. Mansory has nothing on this beast…
Apparently delivering supercar performance (well, yes, we hope so) it’s said to be an “extreme Bentley”.
But what’s really interesting is the fact that this car marks stage one of Bentley’s committment to the environment. How so?
The new Bentley supercar is designed to run on bio-fuel, making it one of the first in this segment. Bentley claims it is pioneering the use of the fuel. However news also comes of Bentley’s hit in the economic crisis. Production is set to shut down in Crewe for around five to six weeks, from March.
Deliberate timing to gear up for production of the new car? Or a quietening off from the boom time? We’ll keep you informed.
Print it: 
“Apparently delivering supercar performance”… supercar acceleration… maybe, supercar braking… possibly, supercar handling and cornering… unlikely, supercar pricing… absolutely!
I must wonder whether Bentley’s commitment to bio fuels is anything more than a bit of press blurb fluff. Half of their production is likely to end up in the Gulf States and I doubt you could even buy a bio fuel there. Perhaps they would be better off telling everyone about the reduction in methane gas emissions that results from the 17 less cows that will be around (per car) after they trim the interior.
haha, ace comment Dlr1
Sorry Dlr1, didn’t you get that backwards?
When Bentley shuts down production at Crewe for any length of time, doesn’t that mean that a lot more cows stay alive by not needing to contribute their hides to Bentley interiors that will no longer happen?
Therefore, more cows staying alive puts more methane into the atmosphere, because they can keep farting rather than be part of a Bentley.
Answer: please buy more Bentleys in order to protect the atmosphere from CO2.
This whole argument just highlights what a crock of effluent the whole Global Warming thing has become.
To Captain Mainwaring, I don’t think the absence of a couple of thousand cows are going to help the environment much.
To Dlr1, have you ever actually driven a Bentley? It will have supercar performance. I would say less than 4.5 seconds to 60. It will brake very well as all Bentleys do. It will handle very well as the Bentley Speed does. I think before you make stupid comments you should actually have something to back you up and for that, you should wait for some statistics.
I bets it a continental GT1 V12……………
I doubt very much it will have super car handling. A coupe weighing more than 2.3 tonne with the engine hanging in front of the front wheels is not likely to handle like a super car.
In my opinion, this car is just a marketing exercise to generate interest on Bentley with the falling sales, and to put some green credential to the Bentley brand even though being green is the least of a typical Bentley buyer’s concern.
Actually on the subject of bio fuel and green, i find cars with mega power using bio fuel to claim a green credential ridiculous, just like this and that koenigsegg running on bio fuel. I doubt being green will be the concern of anyone buying a car with more than 600bhp.
Correct me if i’m wrong, but doesn’t the Volkswagen group own both Bentley AND Bugatti?
wouldnt it be hilarious if they dumped the quad-turbo W16 fromt eh veyron in this thing, haha!
looks good from what i can see so far…
Alex, i’m sure Bentley will do a fine job with this car but it just wont have supercar performance. 2.3 Tonnes of coupe just wont handle like a supercar. Fortunately for its occupants it will doubtless be a far more comfortable and elegant environment for one to endure, perhaps even the best sedan based coupe ever built, but it wont be a Veyron, Enzo or McLaren F1.
Dlr1, can I ask, who said anything about 2.3 tonnes? Sure the standard Continental and the Speed weigh that much but for all Bentley has said, this could well be a stripped out racer. However, the far more likely scenario is that it will still weigh over 2 tonnes like you say but why exactly does weight have anything to do with it? Stupid sounding question I know but consider how far technology has come in cars in the last twenty years. All the little things that have come out to make cars just so fantastic. Maybe Bentley has come up with something that makes a heavy car handle well? The Speed already handles beautifully and as you write, it weighs about 2.3 tonnes. I think this car will either be one of the best supercars ever or be one of the worst. The latter is likely but I think there is a good chance that they will make something truly impressive and wonderful.
My point in all of this is not to say that you are wrong but that maybe you shouldn’t go writing things like “just wont have supercar performance”. You should wait until it comes (if it comes, many cars have been cancelled lately) and gets reviewed because you may well be wrong and then you will look foolish.
Alan, I think the thing about Bio Fuel cars being green is more about the fact that Bio Fuel is not crude oil. When it gets released, if it gets released, it will be the only super car on the market that will still be able to run in 100 years if well looked after. I don’t know how much Co2 they emit though.