SHOCK CAR NEWS! New Bentley SUV won't be cheap

New Bentley SUV won’t be cheap

Bentley boss Wolfgang Dürheimer has revealed that the new Bentley SUV – when it hits the marketplace in two years time – will be more expensive than rivals.

The Bentley SUV is now not just a probable future model for Bentley, but is now a fully confirmed project that will result in the first ever SUV from Bentley in 2016.

Having now moved away from the ‘Bentley Shed’ school of car design we saw with the original EXP 9 F Concept – which got huge criticism when it was revealed – to a much sleeker design that looks like a Continental GT on stilts, the new Bentley SUV will be much in demand when it arrives.

But one question that hasn’t been answered is where exactly Bentley will pitch the price of their new SUV?

We’ve always expected the SUV to cost – certainly by the time any extras have been factored in – something upwards of £150,000, and Bentley dealers we’ve spoken too would prefer to see it the wrong side of £200,00 (or the right side, from their point of view).

Now, Bentley boss Wolfgang Dürheimer has given the first indication of where he sees the new Bentley SUV sitting in the marketplace, although he hasn’t really said anything we didn’t already know.

Speaking to Autocar at Goodwood, Dürheimer said that the current top-end luxury SUVs – cars like the Range Rover, BMW X5, Mercedes GL et al – only run up to around £130,000. Bentley therefore aim to solve that problem for Bentley SUV buyers.

All that tells us is that the new SUV will cost more than £130k – the current starting point for the Continental GT V8 – but that it won’t be the most expensive car in Bentley’s range as Bentley want to keep the Mulsanne as their flagship and, as that costs a bit under £230,000, the Bentley SUV will cost between £130k and £230k.

So, that clears that up then.