The CEO of Bentley confirms that the upcoming SUV will be offered with a Diesel engine

Bentley has been releasing details about its first SUV drip by drip over the past two years. We know that the British brand plans to launch it on the market in 2016, that its price will be around 180,000 euros, and that in 2017 the plug-in hybrid version currently under development will arrive. What remained to be clarified was another, somewhat more controversial detail: whether Bentley will not only enter a new segment with this model but also introduce its first Diesel engine.

The confirmation came from the manufacturer’s own chief executive, Wolfgang Dürheimer, during an interview with the German website Auto-Medienportal. The chosen Diesel engine is an eight-cylinder V-configuration unit and, according to the German portal, it will probably be the same TDI with a 4.2-litre displacement already fitted to other large VAG models.

Bentley has previously equipped some of its models with Diesel engines, but only used them in experiments to test their performance. In principle, the high torque they produce seemed to suit the kind of use customers of the brand usually make of these vehicles. However, this type of engine has less acceptance in two of the main markets for Bentley: China and the United States.

If the brand has decided to add this option, it is because it will help achieve its goal of selling more than 15,000 cars a year worldwide before 2020. This figure represents a 50% increase compared with what Bentley currently handles, which gives an idea of how important the SUV is to the company.

Source | Auto-Medienportal