Old car is based on the Arnage...
Word has reached the shell-likes of PH that Bentley is planning to chop the roof off its new Mulsanne saloon to create a new Azure convertible.
The new car will be introduced around a year after the Mulsanne saloon goes on sale, so expect to see it in showrooms (well, Bentley ones at least) somewhere around the middle of 2011.
The new car will be a direct replacement for the current Azure, which is based on Bentley's outgoing flagship saloon, the Arnage.
Power for the new Azure will come from the same venerable (though much updated) twin-turbo 6.75-litre V8 as in the Mulsanne, which should mean the same 505bhp and stomach-squeezing 752lb ft of torque as the Mulsanne gets.
...while the Mulsanne will sire the new Azure
According to our across-the-pond colleagues at
you can check out IL's rather slick renderings of the new Azure here
) the new Azure is expected to be fitted with a conventional fabric hood, and to stick with the model's traditional two-door bodystyle.
Despite the loss of the roof, the Azure will suffer from a heavier kerb weight than the Mulsanne to help maintain the car's structural rigidity. Even so the Azure's performance should keep close to the 5.1secs 0-60mph sprint and 184mph top speed claimed for the Mulsanne.
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