We all know Bentley as a premium English automobile manufacturer that produces high-end, luxury sedans. Their direct competitors are companies like Rolls-Royce and Maybach, which makes their vehicles pretty expensive. The company even provides the vehicles for the Queen of England to use, as they are her favorite and hold a royal warrant. Bentley has almost always produced sedan and saloon cars, however that is going to change as apparently the company is planning to release the “most exclusive, most luxurious, and most expensive SUV in the world”.
Wolfgang Duerheimer whose is the head of Volkswagen AG England division (Volkswagen owns Bentley), confirmed the there is in fact a Bentley SUV on its way to the market when he showed off a video of the vehicle driving in sand dunes at a recent press conference. The company created this vehicle in hopes to attract new customers to the luxury brand, who prefer SUV’s to sedans. One of the main markets that Bentley is targeting is China, as last year 1 in 3 luxury vehicles sold in the country were a Bentley. More details of what exactly the vehicle is will come soon, and the SUV is expected to hit showrooms sometime in 2016.
Bentley is producing this vehicle to compete with cars like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S, the Mercedes GL63 AMG, and the most expensive Range Rover’s. All of these vehicles offer moderate levels of performance that is combined with a car that can handle off-roading (but let’s be honest no one takes a Cayenne off-road), while reaming luxurious on the inside. This new car is part of a $1.2 billion dollar investment plan announced by Bentley in 2013. The vehicle hopes to take Bentley sales up to 15,000 vehicles by 2018.
Not much is known about the Bentley SUV as of now, but apparently 4,000 people are “really interested” in potentially buying the vehicle according to Bentley and they expect to sell at least 3,000 in the first year alone. The car is rumored to cost around $214,000 dollars which, if true, will make it the most expensive SUV ever.
Photo from Bentley
