With all the talk of double-dip recessions and the eurozone meltdown you’d have thought luxury car makers would be having a hard time. Not so.
Having enjoyed a sales boom since the start of the year, Bentley today launches its fastest ever road-going car. But if you want to own one you’ll need deep pockets – it’s priced at £151,500.
The British car firm said its 205mph Bentley Continental GT Speed ‘will appeal to driving enthusiasts who place a high value on outright performance, agile handling, distinctive design and sporting luxury’.
It is being built at the firm’s factory in Crewe which will also soon play host to the first ever Bentley 4x4 off-roader.
The two-door ‘grand tourer’, which can accelerate from 0 to 60mph in four seconds, is designed to get four people and their luggage down to the South of France in comfort and speed.
To achieve such performance it has a vast six-litre turbo-charged engine that produces the same power as six Ford Fiestas. Fuel consumption, unsurprisingly, comes in at a gas- guzzling performance of just under 20 miles to the gallon.
Luxury touches include a hand-crafted interior cabin with diamond quilted leather and brushed aluminium facia.
Despite its speed, the new car still has a way to go to match the 215mph of Bentley’s Speed8 racing car which won the Le Mans 24 hour race in 2003.
Its global public debut will come at this month’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in Sussex. Orders are being taken now for deliveries in October with 80 per cent set for export, mainly to the US, Europe and China.
The launch of the new Bentley sparked a battle with UK rival Aston Martin which has brought out its own 183mph supercar, the AM 310 Vanquish, priced from £189,995.
Bentley has been owned since 1998 by Germany’s Volkswagen Group. Global sales for the first three months of this year soared by 46.6 per cent with 1,759 cars delivered to customers. Growth was led by the emergence of China as Bentley’s largest market in the first quarter with sales in the region up 84.9 per cent.
Sales were also up by 35 per cent in the Americas and 34 per cent across Europe. Sales in the UK and Germany remain ‘stable’.
By RAY MASSEY
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