Bentley to unleash fastest 4x4 SUV at Frankfurt Motor Show

The Bentayga can go to 100kph in four seconds and hit a top speed of 300kph. Courtesy Bentley

Bentley will showcase the fastest 4x4 in the world at the Frankfurt Motor Show next week – the 2016 Bentayga.

The much-hyped 6-litre W-12 behemoth, unveiled in Las Vegas yesterday UAE time, will produce 600 horsepower and 663 pounds per foot of torque over its four-wheel-drive, eight-speed, automatic transmission. It will go to 100kph in four seconds and hit a top speed of 300kph.

The company is hoping it can benefit from a boom in 4x4 demand, fuelled by China, the Middle East and the United States. Saloon sales in China continued to slump last month, falling 13 per cent, while 4x4s surged 55 per cent, according to the China Passenger Car Association. Total passenger-vehicle deliveries gained 6.3 per cent to 12.6 million units in the first eight months of the year, according to the group.

Diesel and hybrid versions of the Bentayga will go on sale in the next few years.

The offering is a key part of the parent-company Volkswagen’s master plan to bump Bentley’s output to 15,000 units sold in the next three years.

Last year it sold just over 11,000 vehicles worldwide and the company says it will make approximately 3,000 Bentaygas next year alone.

Bentley has declined to name exact pricing yet for the Bentayga, but a base model will start in the mid-US$200,000 range. Deliveries begin early next year.

For the not so adventurous, the luxury British car maker Rolls-Royce Motors will showcase a new convertible model at the Frankfurt Motor Show, aiming to increase its appeal to women and younger drivers amid declining sales in China.

BMW-owned Rolls-Royce has, like most car makers, been hit by a slowdown in the world’s largest car market, with global sales volumes down 10 per cent in the first seven months of the year.

Chinese sales could end the year down as much as 15 per cent, the firm said in June, in contrast to the record 4,063 models the brand delivered last year.

The firm’s director of design Giles Taylor said the Dawn convertible would help to bring new customers to the 111-year old brand who have a more modern approach to car ownership.

“It’s a driver’s car and we believe that we are reaching out to customers that may have perceived a level of opulence and formality with previous Rolls-Royces,” he said.

“It is about connecting to younger aspirations.”

Rolls-Royce, bought by Germany’s BMW in 1998, said it has already received several hundred orders for the car but did not give details on the selling price.

“I think the sensuality of the car will attract probably more women than with the Wraith which hopefully stands us in good stead,” Taylor said.

“The ultra-wealthy will buy this car,” said Tim Urquhart, a London analyst at the market researcher IHS Automotive.

Sales of convertibles have plunged 51 per cent from their 2004 peak, to 409,770 cars last year, while 4x4 deliveries increased nearly fourfold to 12.3 million, according to data from IHS. “We see very good potential” for four-seat convertibles, said the Rolls-Royce chief Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes. “We’re convinced you need to offer more space in the back of the car.”

At the other end of the market, Toyota yesterday unveiled a sleeker version of the Prius that runs on gas and electricity.

The 2016 Prius is more sculpted and sportier looking than the current version as Toyota tries to move the car from appealing mainly to environmentalists to more of a mainstream vehicle. The company says it will get about 55 miles per gallon in combined city and motorway driving, about 10 per cent better than the 2015 version.

“What once was a rational purchase that for many customers focused on fuel economy is now so much more,” said Bill Fay, the general manager of the Toyota Division in the United States.

US Prius sales peaked at nearly 237,000 in 2012 with the introduction of wagon and compact models. Gasoline averaged $3.63 per gallon that year, the most expensive year on record. But since then, Prius sales have fallen to just over 207,000 last year. Through August sales are down 17 per cent from a year earlier.

The new Prius arrives in dealerships early next year. The price was not announced, but the current version starts at US$24,200 excluding shipping.

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