Bentley May Rethink SUV Design After Negative Reactions to EXP 9 F Concept

There are already rumors that Bentley is redesigning its future SUV, which was shown in prototype form as the EXP 9 F last week at the Geneva auto show. Officially, EXP 9 F is a concept car, exhibited to get a reaction from the media and Bentley's wealthy customers. The VW-owned British luxury-car company realized that there is, among traditionalists, resistance to the idea of a Bentley SUV, but it didn't expect disapproval of the concept's styling. Media reaction was generally negative. "It looks like a van with a Mulsanne front," said one seasoned observer. Rival SUV manufacturers smiled in satisfaction. Franz-Josef Paefgen, who retired last year as chairman of Bentley (and was known to not favor it building an SUV), restricted his comments to "they have some more work to do." An executive from Rolls-Royce was one of the few to praise the EXP 9 F and said that he was sure that Bentley would have no trouble selling the planned 3500 annually, starting in 2015. Work on a possible Bentley SUV accelerated when Wolfgang Dürheimer arrived from Porsche to take over as CEO. Dürheimer had overseen the development and introduction of the Cayenne, which became Porsche's bestseller. His argument for a Bentley SUV was the same as it was at Porsche: Most owners of the existing models already had an SUV in their garage, so why shouldn't that also be a Porsche—or a Bentley? The styling of the EXP 9 F has the hallmark of Bentley design chief Dirk van Braeckel and is more closely associated with the exclusive Mulsanne sedan than the (slightly) less expensive Continental range. The industry had expected a Bentley SUV to have the more contemporary look of the Continentals with the high stance of a Land Rover Range Rover, the nearest current equivalent. Whatever changes are made to its looks (and there is time to rethink the design), the as-yet-unnamed SUV will bring another shock to the traditionalists: Bentley's first diesel engine. The EXP 9 F concept has the latest version of the twin-turbocharged 6.o-liter W-12 engine, but the production model will offer a range of engines including the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 from the new Continental and a diesel derived from the Volkswagen Group's TDI V-8. Again, Dürheimer has seen this before: "Porsche people didn't like diesels, but we introduced one and it saved the Cayenne in the economic crisis." While there's no knocking the business case—Bentley will sell as many SUVs as it cares to build, whatever it ends up looking like—we do hope the exterior styling gets some help. from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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