Official: Bentley will have an SUV in 2016

The British brand has just officially confirmed that it has given the green light to the production of its first SUV. It will be the fourth model in the range and will go on sale in three years. The final decision took about six months to arrive, since the CEO of Bentley, Wolfgang Schreiber, suggested that they were close to approving the manufacturing of this off-roader.

Bentley did not mention anything in its statement about its name or its design. But we learned from Schreiber’s remarks that in several respects it will depart from what was seen in the EXP 9F prototype. That was merely a study of potential customers’ reactions. What the chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group, Martin Winterkorn, asserts is that it will be an “authentic Bentley: powerful, exclusive and a success”.

The press release adds that it will keep the company’s traditional design language and that its ambitious mission is to become the most powerful and luxurious SUV on the market. Its manufacturing will create another thousand jobs in the British industry. This model is part of the plan of more than €931 million (800 million pounds) that Bentley will invest in its Crewe facilities and in creating new products.

Apart from the positive news for the British economy, the green light for this SUV was essentially given thanks to the positive reception that customers gave to the idea of having this type of vehicle in the Bentley range (though not the styling of the EXP 9F). However, since it will no longer look like the first prototype, could we expect the brand to show some other preview before the final model?

Source: Bentley