Bentley Continental GT 2011 Spied

The 2011 Bentley Continental GT

We have a spy shot of the next generation Bentley Continental GT, which is due to hit the road in 2011 and will probably surface at the Paris Motor Show in the Autumn.

The Bentley Continental GT – complete with its awesome W12 engine – has been with us for seven years and has managed to cement a reputation as a hugely capable car – if a little tainted by the ‘WAG’ paintbrush. But get past the footballers car label and the Continental GT – particularly the GT Speed – is a very desirable ‘VW’ Bentley.

But however good the Contis are, things move on and even Bentleys have to change. So Bentley are readying a new Continental GT for launch in 2011 – and probably showing at the Paris Motor Show in October – which Left Lane News has managed to grab a spy shot of.

As you can see in the photo, the front grill is more upright and the wings and bumper more flowing, with a chrome accent following the line of the revised bumper to the back of the car. The grill is revised as are the headlights, including LEDs. Which is about as much as we can tell from the photo, but we expect the big changes to be under the skin.

It’s been rumoured that the next gen Continental GT will get the chassis from the new A8, dumping the current chassis which is nicked from the VW Phaeton. That would give a longer wheelbase, wider track and a lot less weight – as much as 400lbs. That – coupled with some performance and emissions tweaking – should make quite a difference to the performance of the standard GT.

Expect the 2011 Continental GT to get 600bhp and the GT Speed up to 640bhp, which is more than the current Supersports manages. You can also expect all the current variations of Continental GT to carry forward, including the Supersports (and Convertible) and the Flying Spur.

There’s also room to push the prices a bit north with a new model.