British luxury brand Bentley will build an SUV if its customers want it. That’s the verdict of the company’s director of chassis, powertrain and motorsport, Brian Gush, speaking exclusively to Drive at the Geneva motor show last week.
“We would always look at things like that as long as they are a true Bentley,” he confirmed.
“Once the market research is done and it comes back saying the customers would accept that sort of thing then we would go for it… It comes back to what are our core values. As long as you have that great luxury, great comfort and superb driving dynamics it can be in any class of car.”
Recent European media reports have speculated an SUV based on the architecture of the Porsche Cayenne is already in the works for Bentley, as well as a five-door limousine developed with the next Panamera. A third new model line being mooted is a coupe targeted at the Maserati GranTurismo and Mercedes-Benz SL.
Technology sharing with Porsche is a given for Bentley now that the German manufacturer has joined it as a Volkswagen group brand. Porsche’s former R&D boss Wolfgang Durheimer has also just been appointed as chairman and CEO of Bentley and Bugatti.
However, Gush questioned reports that Porsche would have the dominant engineering role among VW’s sports-luxury brands. He insisted Porsche’s arrival would not compromise the character of Bentley models.
“We have always given our own character to the cars and we will continue to develop cars in our own way,” he said. “We are not going to be pushed in one direction or another. We have our own DNA and we have created our own DNA.
“There are a lot of ideas, but nothing that’s come out saying Porsche is now going to the lead the engineering.
“We are very fresh into Porsche integrating into the group and they have a lot of interesting technology that we will take a look at, and see whether it fits our purposes… We will develop things they can use and they will develop things we can use.”
Gush also downplayed reports that Porsche will be responsible for a highly modular and flexible architecture dubbed MSB that will underpin future Porches, Bentleys, Lamborghinis and the Audi A8. MSB is said to be a mid-front engined architecture with rear and all-wheel drive capability, substantial track and wheelbase flexibility and construction by a steel and aluminium matrix.
The next generation Continental GT family (including Flying Spur sedan GTC convertible), a sub-Conti family and the replacement for the Mulsanne are all reportedly based on MSB.
Gush suggested the architecture strategy still required some finalisation: “Those decisions and the names are all being thrown around, they are not fixed. There are certain ideas but they are not fixed and by no means has anyone decided what it is.
“The new architecture – whatever you want to call it – D-type or MSB … we haven’t got a name for it yet. We will not be pushed into a configuration as such, we will choose something that works for us.”
That means “something” capable of delivering on Bentley’s traditional ability to combine extreme comfort with extreme performance. Gush acknowledged that it could well be a shared set of componentry, but that Bentley would refine it in its own way.
Gush confirmed Bentley would continue to work on fuel-saving technologies following on from the W12 engine’s E85 capability and the arrival of a new Audi-sourced 4.0-litre turbocharged V8 in the GT before the end of the year. He nominated mild hybrid as a technology that could be in-place soon.
