While we're still waiting for the next Continental GT to finally emerge from its prolonged development stage, Bentley is plainly wasting no time at all in pushing the next variant along the conveyor belt. An eagle-eyed Autocar reader has spotted the new Convertible in a motorway service station - the first such sighting of it testing on UK roads.
Like its predecessor, the car gets a ragtop - and isn't nearly as pretty as the coupe without the raked rear roofline. Nevertheless, the DVLA's reg checker tells us that there's a 6.0-litre W12 underneath, which makes it highly likely that the model will launch with the same 635hp iteration that powers the forthcoming GT.
Eventually both are expected to be made available with the same twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 which has already made its Bentley debut in the Bentayga (following its deployment in the Porsche Cayenne Turbo). However, much as it did with its SUV, we'd expect Crewe to make its customers wait for the cheaper engine.
Either way, the W12 version ought to be quicker than any previous edition of the convertible - if only because its new platform, the Panamera's MSB architecture, is intended to be lighter and much better balanced than its predecessor.
That ought to make it very fast indeed as Bentley famously cranked the previous car - in Supersports trim - up to 205mph on a frozen stretch of Baltic Sea with Juha Kankkunen aboard. That car was both the quickest and most accelerative convertible ever to wear the wings. It was also among the most expensive Continentals at £189,550. Of course, if you fancy one now - for a cool £100k less - look no further...
1 / 2
