Priced at about 180,000 euros (RM1.1million before local taxes), the Bentayga will go on sale next year. It’s a key part of Volkswagen’s plan to boost Bentley’s sales to 15,000 vehicles annually by 2018. The marque’s global deliveries were a record 11,020 cars last year, and Bentley has said it expects to sell about 3,000 SUVs a year.
The Bentayga, pronounced with the long “a” sound of the taiga, the Siberian snowforest that helped give it its name will face increasing competition from other ultra-luxury SUVs. BMW’s Rolls-Royce has promised an “all-terrain” vehicle by 2018, which will probably unseat the Bentayga as the world’s most expensive. Fellow Volkswagen unit Lamborghini is planning an Italian-built SUV also priced at about 180,000 euros the same year.
All three come as the makers of the world’s most expensive cars seek to boost their appeal in China and emerging markets, where rough roads make a posh SUV an appealing alternative to a sports car.
Bentley’s target would be to sell between 4,000 and 5,000 Bentaygas yearly; using the U.S., China, the UK and Germany are its four greatest marketplaces. Being an element of the giant Volkswagen Group gave the Bentley team plenty to utilize when developing the Bentayga. It’s built around the PL73 form of Volkswagen Group’s Major league baseball (longitudinal front engine, all-wheel drive) platform architecture which supports the brand new Audi Q7. However, the Bentley will get its very own suspension and brakes (the brakes will later be distributed to the next-generation Porsche Cayenne) and debuts Volkswagen Group’s new 6-liter W-12 engine.
