Bentley SUV (Bentley Falcon) to get completely new design – EXP 9 F scrapped

Car & Driver are reporting that Bentley’s new Design chief – Luc Donckerwolke – is scrapping the Bentley SUV Concept and starting again.

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The Bentley vision of a luxury SUV (which we now think will be the Bentley Falcon when it arrives) debuted at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, and got almost as much criticism as the Laganoda SUV did when it arrived at Geneva 2009.

Despite the less than friendly response to the Bentley SUV, Bentley went on to show it at both the Beijing Motor Show and Pebble Beach but made it clear that the SUV was just a concept; a work in progress.

But the arrival of Luc Donckerwolke as Bentley’s Chief Designer appears to have signalled the end of the EXP 9 F concept completely, with Car and Driver reporting that Donckerwolke isn’t overseeing a tinkering with the EXP 9 F Concept, but is scrapping it altogether.

In its place – although it seems likely the engineering under the skin , and the appealing interior,  will remain intact – Donckerwolke is working on a new Bentley SUV that will be a much sportier and contemporary take on Bentley design.

That’s exactly what we called for when we first saw the Bentley SUV – a sporty-looking SUV take on the Continental GT design – instead of one which looked like a truck with lights from the Mulsanne.

Is the design of the new SUV far enough along for us to see a concept at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show? Probably not, but if its doesn’t arrive at Geneva it should arrive by Frankfurt in September if Bentley are to get it to market by 2015 with its platform from the next Cayenne and Q7 and a V8 lump (perhaps even a hybrid option too) powering all four wheels.

Let’s hope the new Bentley SUV Concept will look like a potential challenger for the 2013 Range Rover. And if it does look completely different, then you’d better take a look at the video and photos before the EXP 9 F is consigned to Bentley’s ‘Whoops’ cupboard.

Bentley SUV Concept EXP 9 F Photos

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Bentley EXP 9 F SUV Video