Bentley Bentayga

The Bentley Bentayga is a four- or five-seat, five-door ultra-luxury SUV first produced by Bentley in 2015 for the 2016 model year lineup. It is built at Bentley's main factory, in Crewe, England.

The Bentayga is claimed to be the world's fastest production SUV in the world as of June 2016, with an electronically limited top speed of 187 mph (301 km/h). It is also the most expensive, though the Range Rover SVAutobigraphy, as well as the upcoming Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Lamborghini Urus (with which the Bentayga shares 20 percent of its parts), are or are projected to be close to the price of the Bentayga.

Using unibody construction, a Bentley W12 and full-time all-wheel drive, the Bentayga is based on the Volkswagen Group MLB platform, the same platform used in the second-generation Audi Q7 and the future third-generation Porsche Cayenne, Volkswagen Touareg and Lamborghini Urus. However, 80 percent of the Bentayga's parts are unique.

The Bentayga is Bentley's first production SUV, an evolution of the 2012 Bentley EXP 9 F concept SUV. It was formally unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2015. Production began two months later, on 27 November 2015.

Development
Main article: Bentley EXP 9 F

Bentley's first production SUV was first previewed as the Bentley EXP 9 Fconcept car at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. The car was based upon theVolkswagen Group MLB platform, powered by a 6.0-litre W12 engine producing 600 hp. The production version was announced on July 2013. The Bentley EXP 9 F's design proved to be controversial, and it received a mixed response from the automobile press. After some criticism for the design of the EXP 9 F, Bentley announced that it would change the styling for the production version of the SUV, the Bentayga.

Bentayga's Development
The initial design of the EXP 9 F was redesigned to achieve a more attractive look for the Bentayga.

As the demand of luxury SUVs and crossovers soared over the past decades, Bentley executives decided that they needed to create their own vehicle to compete with the Range Rover, Porsche Cayenne and other high-end luxury SUVs on the market. The hope was that—similar to what happened at Bentley's sister-brand Porsche, with the launch of the Cayenne—the Bentayga would become the company's most popular model and create a new revenue stream. The Bentayga would help Bentley reach its goal of 20,000 vehicles sold each year by 2020 and serve as a volume model, especially popular in the United States, China, the Middle East, Russia and the United Kingdom.

Almost four years after the Bentley EXP 9 F concept was unveiled, the Bentayga began production at Bentley's historic factory in Crewe, England.

Name
Bentley officially unveiled the name "Bentayga" in January 2015. The name was inspired by Taiga, the world’s largest transcontinental snow forest, and is composed of the first four letters of Bentley and an altered spelling of Taiga. Bentley also drew inspiration from the rugged peak of the Roque Bentayga in Gran Canaria, the subtropical Canary Island. Bentayga also means "carried interest" in Swahili.

W12
The 2016 Bentayga will be the first to receive Bentley's new twin-turbo W12 engine. Initially, the W12 will be the only engine option for the Bentayga, capable of bypassing a cylinder row, if needed.[1] The 6.0l, twin-turbo will have an estimated 600 hp (608 PS; 447 kW) and 664 lb·ft (900 N·m) of torque and will move the Bentayga from 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) in under 5.0 seconds.

V8, Diesel and V8 Plug-In Hybrid
Starting in 2017, the Bentayga will have four powertrain options, the W12 currently available, a V8 that is derived from the V8 used in the Continental GT, a diesel V8 derived from the Audi diesel V8, and a plug in hybrid using the same petrol V* as in the Continental and Mulsanne, mated to several electric motors and a lithium-ion battery that shoudl deliver around 31 miles of all electric range. The diesel engine will be Bentley's first-ever diesel, and the Bentayga is likely to be the only Bentley offered with a diesel powertrain.

Bentley has officially confirmed the 2017 Bentayga will be Bentley's first production plug-in hybrid, while company executives have stated in interviews that the Bentayga would also get a diesel engine. As previewed by the Bentley Mulsanne Hybrid concept car, as well as the Bentley EXP 10 Speed Sixconcept, the plug-in hybrid will likely have copper accents and trim along the veneers in the interior and on the outside of the vehicle; as well as copper-colour contrast stitching in the interior.

The V-8 version will have a lower MSRP than the W12, as will the diesel and plug-in powertrains. The V-8 will be released 2018. And theplug-in hybrid and diesel will be released in 2017

The 8-speed transmission splits torque with 60% to rear, and 40% to front.

Performance
The W12 Bentayga will have a top speed of 187 mph (301 km/h). The Bentayga is the world's fastest production SUV, which is faster than all of it's rivals, including the Range Rover (which has a maximum top speed of 130 mph), the Tesla Model X, and the Porsche Cayenne. The Bentley Bentayga can go from 0-60 in The Bentayga uses a 48 volt electrical system to control its electronically controlled active anti-roll bar (EWAS), which helps the heavy SUV reduce body roll.

Production
Originally slated by Volkswagen to be produced at the Volkswagen Bratislava Plant in Slovakia, the factory where all other models based on the platform are produced, an agreement was reached with the British Government for the model to be produced at the Crewe factory. Bentley has invested £800 million in a new facility in Crewe and hired 1,000 new employees to meet the demand for 3,000–4,000 SUVs per year.

Although production of the Bentayga was moved to Crewe, production of the Bentayga's body shell remains at the Bratislava facility.

A total of 608 units will be made for the first edition, 75 of them to be sold in the US market.

Bentley predicted that 3,500 Bentaygas would be sold in 2016. When the entire production volume for the year sold out in advance, production was increased to 5,000 units. These additional 1,500 units were also reserved by buyers in advance. The Bentayga has an order backlog that stretches into 2017; in some markets, the Bentayga is sold out for the next two years.

The Bentley Bentayga, despite its high price tag, has been an unprecedented sales success for Bentley and is now by far Bentley's most popular model.