Top Speed Cars Car News

The Continental GT has only just been unveiled and already Bentley is giving potential owners the chance to customize their Continental GT. The online configurator is called the “Visualiser” and it allows you to see your Continental GT in one of 14 exterior colors, a range of wheel designs, and numerous interior choices. Not exactly the perfect configurator on the market, but at least everyone will be able to get an idea of what Bentley has to offer!

All you have to do is get online and start having some fun!

Refresher: The new Continental GT gets a more upright grille with new headlamp design, in traditional four-lamp format and LED daylight-running lamps, a bootlid inspired by the Bentley Mulsanne and flared elliptical exhaust tailpipes. Under the hood there is a 6.0 liter W12 powertrain that delivers a total of 567 HP and 700 NM of torque. The car sprints from 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds and can hit a top speed of 198 mph.

Online configurator for the new Bentley Continental GT originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 EST.

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Top Speed Cars Car News

The all-new 2011 Bentley Continental GT was just recently shown online. We got to see some pretty pictures and all that, but nothing shows us a car’s true looks and sound than a good video, and that’s just what we have.

There isn’t a whole lot of action in the video, but we do get to see the car up close and personal. The car will be making its first official debut at the Paris Motor Show, which we will be covering. Under the hood will be a W12 with 567 horsepower. Floor the fast pedal and you will be able to hit 198 miles per hour, but if you go down a hill you might hit the magic 200.

Some of the features include climate-controlled seats and a touchscreen for all the car’s toys and gizmos. Chances are the new GT will be pretty sensational, but we will have to wait and see.

Hit the jump to see the video.

2011 Bentley Continental GT Shown In Video originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 8 September 2010 20:00 EST.

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Top Speed Cars Car News

We’ve just about had enough of burning supercars recently with all those burning Ferrari 458 Italias having traumatized us already. But unfortunately, the reality of it all is that we’re still going to see them whether we like it or not with this Bentley Continental GT serving proof that exotics aren’t exempt from freak accidents like this.

In this particular case, the burning Continental GT, which happened in Irkutsk, Eastern Siberia, may have come as a result of a pre-meditated attack and not some sort of accident. Details are sketchy, but from what we’ve heard, it looks like arson may have been the cause with two probably scenarios: either somebody didn’t want the car anymore – and decided to burn it – or people got upset at the owner for parking the car in three separate parking spots.

Whatever the case may be, it doesn’t take away the grim reality that another exotic – a beautiful one at that – has now been toasted to a crisp, and hundreds of thousands of dollars have burned with it.

Bentley Continental GT gets toasted in Russia originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 5 September 2010 22:00 EST.

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Top Speed Cars Car News

Bentley has already released a few teaser images of the future Continental GT, but today the company has come out to inform the world that they will be debuting the future iconic British coupe next month, and not during the Paris Motor Show as originally expected. Bentley will be unveiling the Continental GT by doing a unique internet reveal.

This interesting reveal will go from September 7th through September 14th, both day and night on www.ContinentalGT.com. When the debut begins, Bentley will be officially drawing back the tarp from over the vehicle and allowing viewers from all over the world to take several bespoke and virtual tours of the Continental GT. These tours will be available from many different camera angles so that no nook or cranny goes unnoticed.

The new Continental will feature new headlights with LED lights – similar to those of the new Mulsanne – as well as a more aggressive air damn, revised front air ducts, and a new set of wheels. The interior has been slightly redone to include a reworked navigation system and infotainment center, as well as many options to customize the coupe to the customer’s taste.

Press release after the jump.

New Bentley Continental GT to debut online fom September 7th to 14th originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 31 August 2010 21:00 EST.

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Top Speed Cars Car News

Bentley is all about elegance and luxury, and those that know the name well understand that the brand takes good care of its reputation as one of the auto industry’s most esteemed car brands.

If you’re a young designer looking to make a name for yourself, creating renderings should serve as a good way to not only hone your skills, but also – if they’re good enough – to get some attention for your work.

Alexander Kotlyarevsky’s rendering of this Bentley R-Type certainly fits that bill. Keeping true to the British marquee’s reputation as a luxury automaker, Kotlyarevsky’s rendering comes with an elegant styling that’s also infused with some aggressive, modern touches that highlight the concept’s classic yet modern look.

More than the aesthetics, the young designer also gave this concept quite a powertrain featuring an 8.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine that produces a mind-boggling 800 horsepower and 1600 Nm of torque with a 0-60 mph time of 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 240 mph.

Judging the book by its cover, we give a lot of credit to Kotlyarevsky for the cutting-edge look of the R-Type concept. It’s certainly something we’d endorse to the folks over at Bentley.

Bentley R-Type Concept originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 31 August 2010 18:00 EST.

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The world of super luxury sedans might be a thing of the past for Bentley. The company decided to focus on performance vehicles, as well as run on an 18-month production cycle.

Bentley researchers found that owners of two-door Continentals tend to keep their cars around 12 to 18 months. After that, their desire for a new, high priced car has them shopping around, hence the new production cycle. Furthermore, the report also says that when Bentley made a coupe and a convertible of the same model, some customers bought both.

This new cycle and customer habits are part of the reason for the new 2011 Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible, a variant on the Supersports, which is the fast version of the GT. The drop-top Supersports will cost around $280,000 and will come only a year after we got the base $267,000 Supersports.

All of these performance cars might be a sign of things to come for the company, as they look to get back to their fast car roots.

Bentley will look to separate themselves from Rolls-Royce, as the two have long been linked together. It’s been nearly a decade since Rolls went off to join BMW and Bentley was swooped up Volkswagen.

Bentley global director of planning, Richard Leopold believes that the change to more speed-focused models will help the company move away from luxury vehicles and closer to Maserati and Lamborghini. He says that buyers of those Italian brands might be willing to consider moving to sportier Bentleys.

Whatever Bentley decides to do, they need to hurry up. The old Continental is seven years old and sales are down due to the economic crisis. We hope to have more news soon.

Bentley to focus on performance, rather than luxury originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 29 June 2010 10:00 EST.

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The Porsche Panamera is already a very successful model on the market. It may even be more successful than Porsche itself expected and proof of that statement comes in the form of the 678 Panameras that were sold in April in the U.S., while the rest of the line-up added up to a total of 1,747 units.

So why would other automakers sit back and let Porsche have all of the fun? Well, apparently, they aren’t going to. Bentley, for instance, plans to bring a new model to the market. This model will be a five-door fastback based on the next-generation Continental range and a direct competitor to the German luxury sedan. The next generation Bentley Continental will go on sale in 2012.

The five-door fastback version is rumored to be inspired by the Continental Flying Star unveiled by the Italian styling house Touring Superleggera at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. The car is powered by a 6.0-liter W12 engine that develops a total of 560 hp and 650 Nm of torque (when based on the Continental GTC). When based on the GTC Speed, it develops 610 hp and 750 Nm of torque. It sprints from 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds and can hit a top speed of 200 mph.

Bentley prepares Porsche Panamera competitor originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 24 June 2010 14:00 EST.

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We’ve seen a lot of high-priced luxury cars being treated to things that are by no means luxurious, but this one absolutely takes the cake. It’s definitely a sight for some pretty bad sore eyes.

That, dear friends, is a Bentley Continental GT, not a tractor trailer. And worst of all, it costs a quarter-of-a-million in this part of the world. We don’t know what the owner of the car was thinking - we heard he’s Russian - when he decided to ride his expensive exotic into a obscenely muddy road, but as is the case with those rich boys from Russia who don’t seem to mind getting their cars dirty, or in this case, filthy, this one had no problem doing so.

The problem came when he couldn’t get the car out of the muddy trap he led it to, leading to this extremely difficult predicament. We don’t know if that shirt-less fellow acting like an idiot is the owner, but judging from what looks to be an intoxicated state, we wouldn’t be the lease bit surprised if that indeed is him.

Video: Bentley Continental GT gets unceremonious mud bath originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 18 June 2010 16:00 EST.

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For the longest time, Bentley has carefully crafted a reputation as one of the most esteemed and luxurious auto brands in the world. Classic, elegant, and timeless, when it comes to these descriptions, Bentley holds a backseat to absolutely no one.

That being said, imagine one of the most iconic Bentleys in the world in the form of the 1929 Bentley Blower to be given a more modern ’feel’, so to speak. Conservative Bentley afficionados may cringe at the thought of ruining a classic, but for those who don’t mind bringing in a little more edge to the Blower, then we invite you to check out this fantastical design by Marc Senger, the Bentley Dynamo.

Now, it’s not exactly in tune with what Bentley has been building lately, but given the structural design of the 1929 Blower, this is about as modern as it can get without going all Jetsons on the car. Couple the design - not to mention, those sexy front open wheels - with the original’s 4.3-liter four-cylinder engine and you have a car that the esteemed founders of the brand would be proud of. After all, there’s going to come a point in time where a brand’s history clasps with modern times, and this car certainly fits that bill.

Having said all that, there’s still a likely chance that we won’t see anything like this from Bentley in the near future. As one of those brands that are conscious about their image, it’s highly unlikely that they’d depart from what they’re doing these days to build something like this.

Then again, stranger things have happened.

Bentley Dynamo Concept originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 17 June 2010 12:00 EST.

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The American tuner Tecnocraft is currently working on a tuning package for the new Bentley Continental Supersports. While the work is still in progress they were kind enough to reveal a few details on their future product.

Tuner’s main concern is to make the car as lighter as possible. For that Tecnocraft added a dry carbon fiber front lip and a trunk spoiler, a new exhaust system, carbon ceramic brakes and an interior in dry carbon.

We can’t wait to see how this change will affect the car’s final specifications.

Bentley Continental Supersports by Tecnocraft originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 8 June 2010 11:04 EST.

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