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Bentley readying four-door coupe for 2018

Bentley purists have probably been tearing their hair out since we got our first glimpse of the EXP 9 F SUV Concept. "A Bentley SUV? " you could almost hear them saying, incredulous to the idea that an automaker actually wants to make money. Now, word is that the British brand might be jumping on the four-door-coupe bandwagon. The car, which would slot in below the Continental GT, and act as the new base model, would compete with the BMW M6 Gran Coupe and Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG, according to Car.
Size-wise, Car thinks it'd be in line with the Continental GT, at just over 15.5 feet long. It'd wear a price tag of 125,000 to 150,000 euro, which converts to $168,650 to $202,380. In reality, the US-spec baby Bentley would need to retail for no more than $130,000 to $170,000 if it wanted to truly capture the M6, Porsche Panamera and CLS63 crowd. Speaking of that Porsche, Car thinks the Bentley will ride on the same platform.
As is pointed out, the question of which platform this new model will ride on is an important one. The two possibilities are the D5 architecture of the next Audi A8 or the MSB platform, which will underpin the next-generation Panamera. Expect a 3.0-liter V6 and a 4.0-liter V8, both of which will receive special outfittings for duty in the Bentley, when it arrives in 2018. What do you think? Is there room in the Bentley family for a car below the Continental GT V8, and if so, is a four-door coupe the right choice? Let us know down in Comments.

Bentley teases restyled production SUV

Bentley insists that customers responded positively, but journalists weren't particularly enamored with the EXP 9 F concept when it was unveiled two years ago at the Geneva Motor Show. And so it went back to the drawing board, honing the design to make it more pleasing to the eye.
The production model won't hit the road until 2016, but at its annual shareholders meeting today in London, the British automaker revealed the first image of the finished design - or at least the front end, which was arguably the most controversial element of the design in the first place.
The rendering, as you can see above, is highly stylized and obscured by flying sand (as many customer examples are likely to be in the dunes of the Middle East). But from what we can see, it appears that Bentley has moved the secondary headlights from below the primary ones to beside them. It's hard to tell, but it appears that their place on the edges of the front bumper have been replaced by air vents, giving it an altogether Continental-like front end. The shape of the grille, hood, fenders and greenhouse otherwise appear similar to the EXP 9 F we've already seen, though the air dam appears taller than the concept's.

Bentley wants to get into the coachbuilding business

There was a time when a customer would buy a chassis from an automaker like Bentley and then take it to a coachbuilder to have whatever bodywork they wanted put on it. The practice was particularly prevalent in Bentley's earlier days, but the industry has progressed in such a way - with tighter regulations and unibody construction - that such a practice is no longer feasible. But Bentley wants to get back into that business.
Speaking to UK trade publications recently, Bentley sales chief Kevin Rose indicated that the company is looking into setting up a special division within itself to meet the demands of extremely wealthy customers who want to commission their own coachbuilt custom creations. It's an emerging trend that's seen Ferrari Special Projects build one-offs like the F12 TRS and SP12 EC and McLaren Special Operations the outlandish X-1, and Bentley wants to get in on the action.
It wouldn't be the first even to rebody a contemporary Bentley in recent years. Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera offers the Flying Star (pictured above) that turns the Continental GT into a shooting brake, and Dany Bahar's new coachbuilding outfit Ares plans to do the same. By bringing it in-house, however, Bentley would be able to pick the chassis up off the assembly line at the right time and provide the necessary support and factory backing.