Bentley Bentayga SUV due early 2016

Bentley's Bentayga SUV will arrive in Australia early next year.

Robin Peel, the head of marketing and communications for Bentley Asia Pacific, told motoring.com.au that the car would arrive here much earlier than expected.

"We're very, very excited about this," said Peel, who scotched the idea of customers having to wait until late in the year for the beefy new luxo-barge.

"I can't give a specific month, because we're not quite at that stage, but Australian customers will take delivery of Bentayga sometime early in 2016," he clarified.

It's no secret the British ultra-luxury brand is currently putting the final touches on its first-ever SUV – these spy shots indicative of the late stage testing – but the wraps won't come off the new Bentley beast's final design and specifications until later in the year, possibly at September's 2015 Frankfurt motor show.

What we do know is that it won't look like the EXP 9F concept shown at the 2012 Geneva motor show; Bentley's head of design, Luc Donckerwolke, says the Bentayga will be "completely different" to the derided concept.

As the fourth model in the Bentley range, the Bentayga is expected to rapidly become the marque's best-selling model, as it joins the Flying Spur, Mulsanne and Continental models in showrooms.

Peel explained that although the Bentayga will be a luxury SUV, it will "still be a Bentley".

"Don't forget that the essence of Bentley is luxury and performance without compromise, so whilst we are emphasising the luxury of the car at the moment, absolutely be assured that from a performance point of view the car will be outstanding."

Power will come from a trio of engines, including Bentley's ubiquitous W12, along with a V8 and finally a plug-in hybrid powertrain. The latter will be able to cover up to 48km or 30 miles via its electric motor/s.

"As a manufacturer we are open to and constantly looking at every single powertrain option. Our customers are changing, a younger group of customer [is emerging], there's an acknowledgment by our customer that the world is changing.

"That said, we build more W12s than anyone else. Why do we do that? Because our customers want W12s," declared Peel.

Underpinning the lavish new SUV is the MLB(evo) architecture, a Volkswagen Group platform matrix that will also support vehicles such as the next generations of Porsche Cayenne, Volkswagen Touareg, and possibly even the Lamborghini Urus. The new architecture made its debut underneath the Audi Q7 earlier this year.

For most Bentley buyers the price won't be a huge issue, but for the sake of the argument, how much can Australian customers expect to pay for the Bentayga?

"It won't be the most expensive Bentley in the market," said Peel. "We build the Mulsanne, the GT3-R is hugely expensive [$669,000]. But as we've said consistently it will be the first true luxury SUV. It will eclipse any other SUV in terms of luxury."

It's safe to say the Bentayga won't be six hundred grand, but "it will be at a premium to pretty much any SUV on the market at the moment," observed Peel. According to pricing authority RedBook.com.au, the long wheelbase version of the Range Rover Autobiography Black was the most expensive SUV in Australia, priced at a smidge under $340,000.

The current Bentley range starts at $378,197 for the Bentley Flying Spur and tops out at $662,857 for the Bentley Mulsanne, the GT3-R's $669,000 notwithstanding.

Despite what could be an astronomical price-tag, Bentley is predicting around 3000 Bentayga sales, globally, per year. There's talk the new SUV could see the British car maker double sales in five years' time to 20,000 annual sales by 2020.

In 2013 Bentley sold 121 cars in Australia, posting a rise of 11.6 per cent a year later with 135 sales in 2014. Peel said the Bentayga would significantly boost sales in Australia and elsewhere.

"The SUV market is one of the few that is growing around the world and it's a huge opportunity for every market to build volumes in terms of where they are today," he said.

Rolls-Royce is also planning a super-luxury SUV. Tipped to be launched in 2018, it is codenamed Cullinan.