Bentley SUV to have 12 cylinders

Bentley’s planned SUV will be powered by a 12-cylinder engine, according to the company’s CEO.

“We will be first to use a 12-cylinder petrol engine in a luxury SUV. I like this idea; it makes clear whose car is the boss,” Bentley CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer told Autocar.

While that news may not come as a total surprise, what’s interesting is the SUV will be able to accept both a W12 configuration and a V12 configuration.

Audi Q7 V12 TDI ring any bells? Yes, the Bentley SUV will apparently be able to be powered by diesel, and with 1000Nm of torque available from that engine, it would fit well with the Bentley quality of huge torque from low revs.

In a move which almost certainly clarifies what platform the Bentley SUV will use, the British marque has invited Porsche Cayenne engineer Rolf Frech to spearhead the programme.

Yes, the Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne both use the same platform (also shared with the Volkswagen Touareg), meaning four SUVs from the one VW Group engineering exercise. Cost effective? For sure.

But the other reason for launching an SUV (probably in 2015) is what Bentley’s customers have in the garage.

“Ninety-nine per cent of Bentley owners also own an SUV,” he told Autocar. “I am absolutely sure the demand is there. Absolutely thousands of premium SUVs have been sold — Cayennes, Range Rovers, Q7s and so on — but nobody has given those owners the chance to upgrade. We will.”