Bentley readying wild million-dollar speedster

Bentley is set to shock the world in 2021 when it unwraps what insiders describe as the "ultimate open-cockpit sports tourer" as the part of the luxury car-maker's on-going centenary celebrations.

According to

Rumoured to be priced from a cool £1.5 million ($A2.9m), the roofless Bentley is claimed by sources to borrow its jaw-dropping styling cues from the well-received EXP 100 GT concept that was unveiled last July and marked 100 years of car-making.

Like that concept, the unnamed Bentley speedster will be built with innovative and sustainable materials including, says the Brit mag, naturally-felled 5500-year-old river wood.

Set to be Mulliner's most ambitious project since the 2002 Bentley State Limousine made for the Queen, the special anniversary model is likely to be based on the current Continental GT but set to be significantly lighter.

Weighing less bodes well for performance as the Bentley speedster is set to be powered by the same twin-turbo 6.0-litre W12 mill as the regular Conti GT.

Combined with all-wheel drive and an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, that should see the stripped-out Bentley launch itself to 100km/h in less than three seconds and top out well beyond a very blustery 340km/h.

Refusing to explicitly confirm the existence of the sportiest Bentley in its history, design boss Stefan Sielaff told Autocar earlier this year that "we will show a first idea of what we can do for [a small number of] customers."

The head of design for Bentley said the motivation behind ultra-limited models is increasing demand from ever-wealthier customers who want tailor-made cars.

According to Autocar the luxury British car-maker will keep demand sky-high for what's set to be the fastest, best-driving Bentley ever by limiting the run of speedster to just 12 cars in 2021.