Bentley's Flying Spur: an elegant evolution
Bentley hopes the latest generation Flying Spur will further accelerate its sales on the mainland, writes Mark Andrews
It's no accident that Bentley chose Beijing for the international media test-drive of its new Flying Spur. China is now the carmaker's No 2 market and accounted for 55 per cent of sales of the first-generation Flying Spur. With the new model, the Volkswagen Group's upscale marque is hoping that will increase to 60 per cent.
Bentley is keen to point out it is an all-new model, but with its evolutionary approach to design it could easily pass for a facelift of the previous generation.
Going along with the dropping of the Continental name, the headlight arrangement is no longer the same as its GT siblings and the outer lamps are now larger than the inner ones. There is a less boxy look than the old model, with sculpted lines running the length of the four-door grand tourer. Surprisingly, the car has a drag coefficient of only 0.29.
Under the bonnet, the new Flying Spur is powered by a six-litre W12 engine that has an output of 616 brake horsepower and 800Nm of torque.
Inside, everything - with the exception of the control dials and stalks - is swathed in either luxurious leather or wood veneer. Everything screams quality, right down to the Breitling clock - there are no hard plastics to complain about.