Bentley Bentayga Speed gets new look

The 467kW Bentley Bentayga Speed has been given a mid-life update comprising changes to its exterior design, equipment upgrades and chassis tweaks.

Despite being dubbed the world’s fastest SUV, the Bentley Bentayga Speed has been pummeled by headlines like ‘world’s ugliest SUV’, so now the entire Bentayga SUV range has been restyled with the quad oval headlights and more assertive grille of Bentley’s passenger car models.

The range-topping Bentayga Speed also features a sporty body kit with lower, more aggressively-styled front and rear bumpers and side skirts, plus a mesh grille, roof spoiler and redesigned tail-lights.

There are no significant performance updates to the 2021 Bentley Bentayga Speed’s incendiary 6.0-litre W12 engine, which provides the 2.5-tonne British SUV’s astonishing 306km/h (190mph) top speed.

That was just enough to steal the title of world’s fastest SUV from the Lamborghini Urus, which maxes out at a ‘mere’ 304km/h but is still the world’s quickest SUV with a claimed 0-100km/h time of 3.6 seconds.

The facelifted Bentley Bentayga Speed continues to generate an incredible 467kW (626hp) of power and 900Nm of torque – enough thrust to propel it to 100km/h in a claimed 3.9sec with a little help from its all-wheel drive system and eight-speed automatic transmission.

Bentley’s wild W12 engine can be thought of as two 3.0-litre V6 engines fused together and sharing a crankshaft, and a few token changes have been made to ensure the engine doesn’t melt the polar icecaps quite as quickly as before.

A cylinder-deactivation system can now shut down half of the engine, or one V6 bank of cylinders, to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions when cruising. It will even alternate between the two banks, to ensure optimum thermal dynamics and hence better fuel efficiency.

There’s also a new coasting function which is used on many Volkswagen Group vehicles to detach the engine and gearbox to save fuel when engine torque isn’t required, such as rolling up to a give-way sign.

Official average fuel consumption is now rated at 14.3L/100km.

Bentley has also tweaked the Bentayga Speed’s brake-based torque-vectoring system that’s designed to reduce understeer. The world’s fastest SUV continues its use of an advanced 48-volt active roll control system to reduce body roll.

Riding on unique 22-inch alloy wheels and fitted with performance brakes, buyers can also option carbon-ceramic brakes that are said to withstand temperatures of up 1000 degrees centigrade.

Inside, the upgraded 2021 Bentley Bentayga Speed gets a new 10.9-inch central touch-screen infotainment system also seen on the rest of the upgraded SUV range.

It has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality plus there’s a wireless phone charging pad, USB-C ports, in-car internet connectivity and an improved climate control system with air ionisation.

A head-up display for the driver is also included, while flagship-specific ‘Speed’ logos and exposed stitching can be seen on the seats.

Now that the 2021 Bentayga Speed has been revealed, following the presentation of the updated 404kW twin-turbo 4.0-litre Bentayga V8 in July, the final luxury SUV model to get a mid-life update will be the 330kW 3.0-litre V6 turbo plug-in hybrid model.

‘Regular’ Bentley Bentayga W12 (447kW) models have been axed in Europe and the UK, but it’s not clear if this will be the case in Australia, where the Bentayga range includes the V8 ($334,700), Diesel ($341,500) and W12 ($432,700).

Previously offering little change from half a million dollars ($491,000 plus ORCs), the existing Bentley Bentayga Speed goes on sale in Europe in the fourth quarter of 2020, so expect the 2021 Bentayga line-up to arrive in Australia early next year.