Bentley | The Verge

The Lamborghini Urus and the case for super luxury SUVS

2017-12-05T11:43:56-05:00

This week, Lamborghini unveiled its all-new Urus super-SUV. This outrageously fast, 650-horsepower, $200,000 off-roading four-door is not the first sport utility vehicle from the famed Italian exotic automaker. That was the Hummer-esque, Countach-powered LM002 of the '80s and '90s. But that was a long time ago, well before a desire for high-riding vehicles - trucks, sport utes, and crossovers - transitioned from a niche market to a common one to one that has surpassed passenger cars to become the most popular automotive category. (It's now responsible for two-thirds of all American automotive sales.)

It was also well before a brand like B …

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VW to electrify entire 300-car lineup by 2030

2017-09-11T14:49:17-04:00

The enormous Volkswagen Group is going to make everything electric in some shape or form by 2030, and that involves a lot of cars.

That's because the VW Group is made up of a hugely diverse set of brands sold around the world, such as Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, and yes, Volkswagen. Offering everything from a 911 to a Tiguan with some sort of electric motor will have a noticeable impact on the number of hybrids and full-EVs available over the next decade or so - about 300 different cars sold in different markets in total.

VW Group is made up of a hugely diverse set of brands sold around the world

The whole electric endeavor is an $ …

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The new Bentley Continental GT packs up-to-date tech under a classic shape

2017-08-29T15:45:02-04:00

Bentley Continental GT W12 | Bentley

Balancing the past and future has been the game of the Bentley Continental GT since it was introduced in 2003.

Bentleys have traditionally made a name for themselves as extremely luxurious vehicles that have sometimes been capable of record-breaking speeds thanks to utilizing advanced technologies. That's evident here with this car.

Super Formed process heats aluminum fenders to 500 degrees Celsius

The newest iteration of the Continental GT revealed Tuesday has a lot of technology under its heritage skin. Not that the look is completely unchanged from the model that's been on sale for the better part of two decades, but the familiar exterio …

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Bentley challenges Tesla’s idea of electric luxury with a gorgeous new concept car

2017-03-09T11:38:52-05:00

Bentley wanted to bring a surprise to this year's Geneva Motor Show, and it certainly achieved its goal by unsheathing a snow-white, all-electric concept car this week: the EXP 12 Speed 6e. I was here in Geneva two years ago to photograph the EXP 10 Speed 6, the previous two-seater concept that helped Bentley gobble up attention and headlines at the show. There's a lot that the two concept cars share, mostly owing to Bentley's adherence to signature design touches, but the big difference is that the new one is a battery-powered electric beast of luxurious burden.

Tesla's sporty electrics have come to define the nascent category up to this p …

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What to expect at the Detroit Auto Show

2017-01-09T08:36:51-05:00

Detroit may be steeped in its automotive past, but the Motor City is not feeling all that nostalgic about its contributions to the car industry. In the past, the North American International Auto show has been defined by muscle cars, concepts that celebrated iconic brand history, and pure unadulterated horsepower. But as the week of vehicle debuts kicks off at Cobo Hall, the news is all about the practical present, and a nod toward the uncertain future.

Sure there's promise of a swanky super-connected Lexus LS flagship sedan, rumors of a Corvette, and parked outside of the show, the fastest Bentley ever, but absent from the press conference …

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An up-close look at Bentley’s 209-mph Continental Supersports

2017-01-08T17:05:07-05:00

If you have three friends and you all need to get somewhere really quickly, perhaps the Bentley Continental Supersports is the car for you. It's the fastest accelerating Bentley ever, and the fastest four-seat car ever built. 0-60 mph in 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 209 mph is enough to snap anyone's head back, all thanks to a massive six-liter twin-turbo W12 engine that puts out 700 horsepower and 750 lb-ft of torque. There's a convertible version, too, though removing the roof slows things down slightly - it can do 0-60 in 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 205 mph.

The Verge got a look at the car in an alley behind a Detroit art galley, a …

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The most powerful Bentley ever sold is also one of the best-looking

2016-05-26T13:03:04-04:00

I don't have a lot to say about these new Bentleys that were rolled out in New York City this week - they're very mildly refreshed versions of the existing Continental GT Speed and its various derivatives. But there are two very important takeaways: one, at 633 horsepower and 620 lb-ft. of torque, these are the most powerful production Bentleys in history. Two, the "Open Ocean" configuration of the GT Speed coupe shown at the event is probably the most beautiful version of the Continental that Bentley has ever displayed.

I wouldn't have counted on a metallic blue body to work with bright, solid red trim, but here it is, and it looks amazing …

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Bentley, Zoolander pose, or Danielle Steel novel?

2016-05-25T10:25:44-04:00

I was browsing the online configurator for Bentley's range-topping Mulsanne model this morning, and I stumbled upon the most delightful feature: the British luxury automaker names the suggested color combinations for each of its models and sub-models, and the names are fantastic. Molten Bronze. Big Skies. Opera Night. The list goes on, seemingly forever. There are dozens of them.

After staring at the list for a while, I realized something very, very important: I couldn't identify a structural difference between the name of a Bentley configuration, a trademark pose of Ben Stiller's Derek Zoolander, and a book by the best-selling novelist ali …

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Two designers of 2015’s best-looking concept car have left for Hyundai

2016-05-16T12:40:00-04:00

Hyundai announced today that SangYup Lee, one of the stars of the automotive design world, will be joining the company next month. Lee spent time at GM where he designed the 2006 Camaro concept that led the pony car's revival; more recently, he's led exterior design at Bentley, where he worked on last year's stunning EXP 10 Speed 6 (pictured above).

And strangely, this isn't the first time a designer associated with the EXP 10 Speed 6 has landed at Hyundai. Last year, the company poached Bentley design director Luc Donckerwolke shortly after he lobbed bombs at Lincoln, accusing the design of the Continental concept as being a little too clo …

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Bentley’s Apple Watch app lets you turn on the seat massagers from your wrist

2016-05-04T12:32:48-04:00

Automakers are scrambling to turn their cars into "connected" cars right now - and for many, that means adding support for smartwatches. (Usually, they're just extensions of the phone apps that many of these cars already integrate with.) But more often than not, these smartwatch tools are just for the basics - remote start, finding your car, things of that nature. When you're Bentley and you don't sell a single car for under six digits, you need to dial up the luxury a notch or two.

Bentley just released an Apple Watch app for its new Bentayga SUV, and it's a little bit different than the car-integrated watch apps we've seen so far. It's le …

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