New SUV for Bentley

Crewe-based Bentley Motors has presented its much-anticipated SUV, Bentayga, to the world.

The Bentayga, the luxury car maker’s first ever SUV (on sale next year – with prices starting at £160,000), received huge attention at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

With a top speed of 187mph, the car is powered by twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre W12 engine, meaning the Bentayga is the fastest, most powerful SUV in the world.

Wolfgang Dürheimer, chairman and chief executive of Bentley said: “With this extraordinary car we are looking forward to an exciting period of strong growth and sales success for Bentley. The Bentayga is the next step in our brand’s bold future.”

The launch of the Bentayga comes at a time of significant challenge for Bentley and other luxury British car brands due to the recent economic slowdown in the China – a key market for the last few years.

In China sales of British luxury cars are thought to have as much as halved this year.

Bentley’s sales and marketing director Kevin Rose told The Times: “About 80% of our customers in China are entrepreneurs. They either literally do not have the money to buy a new Bentley, or are taking the view that if they are laying people off they should not turn up at their factory in a Bentley . . .”

Friedrich Eichiner, the chief financial officer of BMW, the parent of Rolls-Royce, admitted that it too was suffering. “The anti-corruption campaign has meant that all luxury products are under pressure,” he said.

“It is not as if [the Chinese] do not want to buy a Rolls-Royce; it is rather that they do not want to be seen to be buying these kind of products. They do not want to be seen to show off,” he added.