Bentley Mulsanne to make way for flagship SUV

Bentley is set to replace its decade-old Mulsanne limousine with a full-size flagship SUV that will dwarf the Bentayga.

According to

Confirming an SUV is under consideration, Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark said: "Our ambition is to fill the Mulsanne price space.

“It will not be a sports car, because we will not build sports cars. The clear indication is that luxury car buyers see SUVs as being far more attractive, and that is where we see the potential. I can definitely see gaps for more derivatives of Bentayga and other opportunities within the SUV space.”

Hallmark said an SUV makes sense since the global demand for luxury four-door sedans has fallen of a cliff in recent history.

“In the good old days, 20 years ago, when the Arnage was on the road with the Silver Seraph, the global four-door sales were about 1500 to 2000 a year combined,” he said.

“Now they are less than 1000, and we’re more than 50 per cent of that.

Hallmark went also went on to say that despite lacking an SUV's extra hardware, traditional limos are no cheaper to make than bigger all-wheel drive SUVs.

“The cost of developing those cars with the technology and requirements for emissions and crash means they are no less expensive to develop than a car you can sell 5000 of,” he said. “If we only see potential for 400 to 600 a year, it makes the business case extremely tough,” said the Bentley CEO.

It's thought the move to an SUV will put the luxury British car-maker under even more pressure to produce pure-electric vehicles, because a bigger and heavier SUV will raise Bentley's fleet-average emissions at a time when tightening EU regulations aim to slash CO2.