Underneath their lavishly polished veneers and synesthesia-inducing leather, Bentley is prepared to change its ways. Some time in 2016, Crewe is set to introduce its first SUV, but a recent story published on Autocar points out the carmaker is considering using its aluminium-sculpting skills to craft a second SUV, this time a smaller one. Forget the grain of salt, take this story with an entire Bentley suitcase full of salt - the Brits are not going to bring a second SUV to the world, at least not soon enough for us to talk about it now.
It all started out with Bentley’s re-installed CEO, Wolfgang Durheimer, telling the British publication “this derivative [a smaller SUV] is definitely one of the ideas we have, but our store of ideas gets bigger and bigger.”
Durheimer is the kind of CEO that would like to see Bentley’s line-up mirror a royal family with plenty of members. His plans for the Gran Coupe, Basically a two-door Mulsanne serving as an Azure revival, are an example as good as any. And yet Bentley won’t double its SUV bet, simply because it does not have to.
SUVs are cash cows and the Volkswagen Group ownership means the British marque is not forced to risk losing its exclusivity factor in the pursue of financial figures. In order to make this clear, it’s enough to analyse Porsche’s case - Zuffenhausen waited over a decade before offering the Cayenne a smaller brother in the form of the Macan. Sure, times have changed and the process can now be sped up, but this still isn’t enough to build a solid business case for an Audi Q5-sized SUV with Flying B badges.
Speaking of the VW Group, I’m not sure the company would be ready for such an expansion on Bentley’s side. VW has recently toned down its aggressive niche-filling strategy. That was a plan meant to make the company the world’s largest automaker (sales volume) by the end of the decade, but their specialists realized the efforts required to succeed would bring quite a dent to the profit.
Then there’s the expertise matter. Porsche can be credited for making SUVs sporty, while Bentley’s trick is that it can conceal the weight of a vehicle. With a massive SUV such as the upcoming Bentley model, that is a requirement, but a Macan-sized SUV will not have any extra weight to hide by the time the VW Group’s new mid-size SUV platform lands.
The pricing matters are not exactly helpful either. Bentley just wouldn’t be Bentley anymore without its extravagant cabins and gifting an interior with such materials won’t suddenly become considerably more cost-effective just because the car in question is somewhat smaller.
Don't get me wrong, we need smaller SUVs. The booming popularity of the genre means our cities are getting more and more floded with behemots, so more compact proposals are all too wellcome. Perhaps people would stop carrying two tons of metal to the supermarket and back if carnakers would offer a wider pallette of efficiently-packed solutions such as the Range Rover Evoque - I'm keeping with the British elegance theme here.
It's just that such SUVs shouldn't come from Bentley. The Flying B's motors are loved for their imposing stance and as far as this part goes, a smaller SUV would only spell comprom... No, I’m not even going to say it. It just won’t happen.
Durheimer is the kind of CEO that would like to see Bentley’s line-up mirror a royal family with plenty of members. His plans for the Gran Coupe, Basically a two-door Mulsanne serving as an Azure revival, are an example as good as any. And yet Bentley won’t double its SUV bet, simply because it does not have to.
SUVs are cash cows and the Volkswagen Group ownership means the British marque is not forced to risk losing its exclusivity factor in the pursue of financial figures. In order to make this clear, it’s enough to analyse Porsche’s case - Zuffenhausen waited over a decade before offering the Cayenne a smaller brother in the form of the Macan. Sure, times have changed and the process can now be sped up, but this still isn’t enough to build a solid business case for an Audi Q5-sized SUV with Flying B badges.
Speaking of the VW Group, I’m not sure the company would be ready for such an expansion on Bentley’s side. VW has recently toned down its aggressive niche-filling strategy. That was a plan meant to make the company the world’s largest automaker (sales volume) by the end of the decade, but their specialists realized the efforts required to succeed would bring quite a dent to the profit.
Then there’s the expertise matter. Porsche can be credited for making SUVs sporty, while Bentley’s trick is that it can conceal the weight of a vehicle. With a massive SUV such as the upcoming Bentley model, that is a requirement, but a Macan-sized SUV will not have any extra weight to hide by the time the VW Group’s new mid-size SUV platform lands.
The pricing matters are not exactly helpful either. Bentley just wouldn’t be Bentley anymore without its extravagant cabins and gifting an interior with such materials won’t suddenly become considerably more cost-effective just because the car in question is somewhat smaller.
Don't get me wrong, we need smaller SUVs. The booming popularity of the genre means our cities are getting more and more floded with behemots, so more compact proposals are all too wellcome. Perhaps people would stop carrying two tons of metal to the supermarket and back if carnakers would offer a wider pallette of efficiently-packed solutions such as the Range Rover Evoque - I'm keeping with the British elegance theme here.
It's just that such SUVs shouldn't come from Bentley. The Flying B's motors are loved for their imposing stance and as far as this part goes, a smaller SUV would only spell comprom... No, I’m not even going to say it. It just won’t happen.
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