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NEWS
Bentley EXP 9 F buffs out the ugly
Bentley's 300km/h top speed target smoothes out the irksome luxury all-roaderAn astonishing top speed target of 305km/h has given Bentley's design team all the excuse it needed to revamp its polarising SUV concept car.
The team, lead by ex-Lamborghini and Seat design boss Luc Donckerwolke, jumped at the top speed as an excuse to smooth out the most offensive angles of the controversial 2012 EXP 9 F concept car before it reaches production in 2016.
Said to weigh in at almost 2.4 tonnes, the Bentley SUV will go to market with very different proportions to the machine that shocked the Geneva Motor Show. A far lower roofline, slippery underbody, cleaner rear styling, a more 'family' face will separate the production car from its concept precursor.
Teased in a recent front-on shot released by Bentley, the SUV (pictured) was never meant to reach design in the original concept form, which one source insisted was made deliberately confronting to diffuse questions away from Bentley's philosophical right to build an SUV in the first place.
The SUV, which has been in serious engineering development for more than a year, will be based around an all-new, high-end SUV Volkswagen Group family architecture which will also deliver the next Q7 and, if approved, Lamborghini's much-hyped third model line, the Urus.
It will still be a very big machine, with an enormous frontal area to push through the air thanks to an overall width of almost two metres.
Sources at Bentley have indicated the new model has sacrificed any pretensions to Range Rover-style off-road ability in favour of on-road dynamics and a more Bentley-family ride and ground-covering ability.
That means it lacks the wheel travel of the Range Rover, but it will rely on highly sophisticated adjustable suspension systems to lower the body to hug the road at speeds above 120km/h, getting even lower at speeds above 250km/h.
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Written byMichael Taylor
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