Photo: Wilco Blok
With the Bentayga W12 and diesel-fed V8 model, Bentley is slowly but steadily preparing to embrace electrification on a grand scale. The 48-volt electrical system that controls the Bentayga’s active anti-roll bars is the building block toward hybridization, and the luxurious SUV will soon usher in a PHEV.
Spied around and at the Nurburgring, the pre-production prototype of the Bentayga PHEV has the fuel filler door located on the right-hand rear fender and the charging port door on the left. Yellow stickers are featured throughout the vehicle, but the most telling sticker is the one is grafted next to the rotary controller on the transmission tunnel (the one reading "PHEV").
The ICE-only versions of the Bentayga boast the auto-start/stop off function at the 6 o’clock position of the rotary controller, but the Bentayga PHEV prototype featured in the gallery flaunts a button that reads “EV Mode.” What that means is, the most eco-friendly variant of the world's most luxurious SUV is able to drive exclusively on electric power at the touch of a button.
A search with the DVLA on the license plate number reveals the internal combustion engine is the 2,995-cc V6 found in the Porsche Panamera and Porsche Cayenne. The 3.0-liter V6 develops as much as 340 PS (250 kW) and 450 Nm (330 pound-feet) of torque. In conjunction with an electric motor, the Bentayga PHEV is expected to develop a little bit more than the 416 PS (306 kW) and 590 Nm (440 lb-ft) of the Cayenne S E-Hybrid that debuted in 2014.
It will be interesting to see if Bentley intends to outperform the V8-powered Bentayga with the plug-in hybrid powertrain in terms of horsepower (435 PS or 320 kW), though the oil-chugging engine is likely to out-torque the PHEV (900 Nm or 664 pound-feet). Expected to make its world premiere in the first half of 2018, the Bentayga PHEV is likely to go on sale for the 2019 MY.
On a related note, the Continental GT PHEV will share its powertrain with the Bentayga PHEV, and it's also likely to debut for the 2019 model year.
The ICE-only versions of the Bentayga boast the auto-start/stop off function at the 6 o’clock position of the rotary controller, but the Bentayga PHEV prototype featured in the gallery flaunts a button that reads “EV Mode.” What that means is, the most eco-friendly variant of the world's most luxurious SUV is able to drive exclusively on electric power at the touch of a button.
A search with the DVLA on the license plate number reveals the internal combustion engine is the 2,995-cc V6 found in the Porsche Panamera and Porsche Cayenne. The 3.0-liter V6 develops as much as 340 PS (250 kW) and 450 Nm (330 pound-feet) of torque. In conjunction with an electric motor, the Bentayga PHEV is expected to develop a little bit more than the 416 PS (306 kW) and 590 Nm (440 lb-ft) of the Cayenne S E-Hybrid that debuted in 2014.
It will be interesting to see if Bentley intends to outperform the V8-powered Bentayga with the plug-in hybrid powertrain in terms of horsepower (435 PS or 320 kW), though the oil-chugging engine is likely to out-torque the PHEV (900 Nm or 664 pound-feet). Expected to make its world premiere in the first half of 2018, the Bentayga PHEV is likely to go on sale for the 2019 MY.
On a related note, the Continental GT PHEV will share its powertrain with the Bentayga PHEV, and it's also likely to debut for the 2019 model year.
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