Where should the manufacturer of the fastest luxury cars test its SUV? Sure enough, swamps and sands are not the best places. People don’t normally buy a Bentley to forge through woods and choose the slushy roads just to go fishing. That is why the most reasonable place to test the new SUV is the Nürburgring, where it has been caught by spy photographers. A SUV produced by such a renowned marque has to boast of outstanding characteristics, great agility and dynamics. Off-road performance is easy to sacrifice in such case.
As reported by Bentley’s officials, the SUV dubbed so far the EXP-9F, which is due in 2016, will offer a wide range of powertrains. A 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 will come as standard. We should also expect an 8-cylinder 4.2-litre turbo-diesel engine borrowed from Audi. But the most anticipated is the plug-in hybrid variant carrying a petrol-powered W12 engine.
Bentley hopes that the latter should make their SUV the fastest car in its segment. The total power output of the hybrid has not been announced yet, however, we do know the W12 can deliver up to 635 hp. An engine like that will power the SUV to 320 km/h of top speed. Lamborghini claims similar performance characteristics. Its car is likely to get a 12-cylinder engine and become another contender for the title of the fastest SUV.
The hybrid variant will be available a year after the car launches. Details are scant at this stage, however, Bentley sales and marketing director Kevin Rose told Car&Driver that the plug-in hybrid would likely come at a premium over the other models. Rose said that almost one third of interested customers would opt for “green” technology.
