RE: Bentley Bentayga - official

[Blackpuddin]

PhantomPH said:

That already looks like a Chinese knockoff of a Bentley 4x4.

What, like this you mean?

[sealtt]

DonkeyApple said:

For some reason I keep imagining that the SUV Roller will look like a pre war Wraith.

Funny thing is, that wouldn't surprise me! And that is why, despite the despicable ostentatiousness of every product they produce, I still love Rolls Royce products - the cars ooze personality. And in their force-feeding, volume oriented management style of Bentley, personality is exactly what the Germans appear to have forgotten about.

Edited by sealtt on Wednesday 9th September 13:27

[DeltonaS]

TheBigUnit said:

The biggest disappointment for me is that beyond the nose it just looks like a big Audi.

What did you expect, it's a typical product of VAG (Xerox) design. The morph function on their copier works brilliantly by the way:

Bentayga = Q7 + Continental Gt

Edited by DeltonaS on Wednesday 9th September 13:18

[Burnham]

I think I'd go for the new Jag 4x4 and keep the change.

[Ved]

I'd like to see the prequel to the video where the wife says "I will never set foot in that monstrosity. I'd rather buy a sea plane and a pilot than be seen dead in it."

Still, if it helps Bentley sell more interesting stuff then fair enough.

[Burnham]

Blackpuddin said:

PhantomPH said:

That already looks like a Chinese knockoff of a Bentley 4x4.

What, like this you mean?

In the video it does have a nasty whiff of Chinese design/proportions to it.

[unpc]

DeltonaS said:

TheBigUnit said:

The biggest disappointment for me is that beyond the nose it just looks like a big Audi.

What did you expect, it's a typical product of VAG design.

Bentayga = Q7 + Continental Gt

There's a reason it looks like the Q7 and that's because it is. Monumentally fugly isn't it? I can't even find any aspect of it I like, especially the interior.

[E65Ross]

shalmaneser said:

VW must be pissing themselves laughing.

How much more can this cost to produce than a Q7 (or even Q5!)?

No matter how much money is spent on timepieces glued into the dash and posh wood there is no way that the markup on this isn't huge!

You could get a 6.0 W12 in a toureg couldn't you? I bet the block is the same (or lightly modified)

All the tooling is going to be identical for 99.9% of the sheet metal, castings and moldings.

It's an amazing achievement from a production engineering/marketing point of view, really.

Do you apply that ridiculous logic to every Bentley product? What about Rolls Royce?

[Fetchez la vache]

sealtt said:

...despite the despicable ostentatiousness of every product they produce, I still love Rolls Royce products - the cars ooze personality. And in their force-feeding, volume oriented management style of Bentley, personality is exactly what the Germans appear to have forgotten about.

Do you mean the Bentley / Audi Germans as opposed to the Rolls Royce / BMW Germans?

[TWPC]

sealtt said:

DonkeyApple said:

For some reason I keep imagining that the SUV Roller will look like a pre war Wraith.

Funny thing is, that wouldn't surprise me! And that is why, despite the despicable ostentatiousness of every product they produce, I still love Rolls Royce products - the cars ooze personality. And in their force-feeding, volume oriented management style of Bentley, personality is exactly what the Germans appear to have forgotten about.

I agree with your point but you can't generalise about the Germans.

Don't forget who controls Rolls-Royce:
http://www.bmwgroup.com/com/en/brands/rolls-royce-...

[sealtt]

Yes, I know that RR is controlled out of Germany too - just yesterday I wrote the below, so don't think I am blind to the facts!

sealtt said:

Chosen I presume by the scalpels at Rolls Royce, C/O BMW, 1 Germanstraße, Germany.

However, there is a big difference between the direction VAG has taken Bentley as to where BMW has taken Rolls Royce. I am actually quite pleasantly surprised with BMW given what they have done to their primary 'BMW' brand and where the 'Mini' brand has gone in recent years. It's brilliant.

My key point being where the Germans (as in the new owners) have taken the brand as opposed to how it was previously run. Not a dig at German brand management in general.

[shalmaneser]

E65Ross said:

shalmaneser said:

VW must be pissing themselves laughing.

How much more can this cost to produce than a Q7 (or even Q5!)?

No matter how much money is spent on timepieces glued into the dash and posh wood there is no way that the markup on this isn't huge!

You could get a 6.0 W12 in a toureg couldn't you? I bet the block is the same (or lightly modified)

All the tooling is going to be identical for 99.9% of the sheet metal, castings and moldings.

It's an amazing achievement from a production engineering/marketing point of view, really.

Do you apply that ridiculous logic to every Bentley product? What about Rolls Royce?

To an extent, but the similarities between (say) the Rolls-Royce and 7 series is a lot less obvious. Certainly a lot more changes to the sheet metal.

[Gandahar]

I actually think it looks better than I thought it would. Not sure if that's a compliment.

Now the real issue

When you take things off road, you have to clean it. Look at that grill...



That's an age to clean, I'd love to buy one and take it down the supermarket to ask someone to clean it for £5 whilst I buy my Daily Mail and some Beluga caviar. bwwaaahaaa

I would lend them a toothbrush though

[PhantomPH]

Blackpuddin said:

PhantomPH said:

That already looks like a Chinese knockoff of a Bentley 4x4.

What, like this you mean?

You mean that's not the new Bentley 4x4??!!

[Banned Member]

I think I prefer Bentley's first attempt at an SUV, the Bentley Dominator, done 17 years ago for the Sultan of Brunei and Prince Jefri.

[smilo996]

Bentley have made then so happy.

[AMDB9]

Ugly but they will sell loads of these - I won't be surprised if early cars command a premium!

[anonymous-user]

I don't think it's that bad, or putting it another way, it's not as ugly as it could have been. In fact the more I look at it the more I like it, despite never wanting to own, or being able to afford one.

It's bold and imposing like any other Bentley, but I find this more tasteful to look at than a chromed-up Range Rover.

They obviously know their market and this is exactly what I'd have expected a Bentley SUV to look like. It was hardly going to look like this now was it...

[DBRacingGod]

Utterly forgettable.

[siony1974]

Saw one of the prototypes on Anglesey a few weeks back, it didn't look that great. Then again what big 4 x 4 does. Why try and make it look like a Conti GT on steroids? New car, new market, new direction why the need to make it look like everything else they make. The rear legroom looks a bit short from the photos. I expected it to have at least the leg space of a LWB Range Rover. I was hoping that the proto I saw they were hiding the back end under false panels but no it seems that they just gave up and whacked the arse end of an X5 on it.