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Written by Paul Horrell
Bentley is [thumb and forefinger just a few atoms apart] this close to signing off a two-seat super-coupe for production. "It ticks all our boxes," says Bentley"s board member for sales and marketing, Kevin Rose."To decide whether to do a new model we always ask ourselves three questions. Is there a gap in the market? Is there a feeder group of customers coming from similar but cheaper cars? And can we make it a Bentley? With EXP 10, sure we can. It ticks all the boxes."So why not just come out and say you"re doing it? "The starting point is the business case. That means technical feasibility, timing, engineering capacity, as well as finance. And the EXP 10 still hasn"t been signed off by the board. We"ll tell you as soon as we know. Couldn"t keep it a secret, frankly."Aren"t there a scary number of rivals these days? "It actually helps if it has competition like the AMG GT and Aston Martin. It means people have already made a decision to be in that coupe market." Things like the Jaguar F-Type R (and the upcoming SVR) probably constitute the feeder group".Ok, what sort of car is it? Talking of the concept, Bentley"s boss Wolfgang D rheimer said, "It will be smaller than the Continental GT but not cheaper."Rose confirms to us that the Continental GT and the Flying Spur saloon will be replaced. So the EXP 10 or whatever the production version is called will need something special to differentiate it. That something will be performance and sporty character.Rose says it will use a version of a new VW Group platform matrix called MSB. This is rear-drive or 4WD, with a longitudinal engine. It was first designed for the next-gen Porsche Panamera. Because it"s modular (like MQB) several sizes of car can come from it.Says Rose: "The EXP 10 will take the MSB platform from Porsche. We will pay them for it but also we have a big hand in the development of that platform. The MSB will be the core platform for the GT, the Spur and the EXP 10 too. It can be different in the front and the rear and the middle."So you can create a sedan with sedan feel or a sports car with a sports-car feel. There"s lots of flexibility in the height too." So it"s possible to make slinky low cars including the EXP10 and Panamera, and higher ones including the next Spur.He says customers, even the technically savvy ones, don"t care about platform sharing. "They understand our modular sharing strategy. We can use common technology and get a different feel. I"ve never had a customer say That"s a shared part." It"s not an issue. Customers use sharing in their own businesses."
Date: 15 Dec 2015
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 674
Bentley is [thumb and forefinger just a few atoms apart] this close to signing off a two-seat super-coupe for production. "It ticks all our boxes," says Bentley"s board member for sales and marketing, Kevin Rose."To decide whether to do a new model we always ask ourselves three questions. Is there a gap in the market? Is there a feeder group of customers coming from similar but cheaper cars? And can we make it a Bentley? With EXP 10, sure we can. It ticks all the boxes."So why not just come out and say you"re doing it? "The starting point is the business case. That means technical feasibility, timing, engineering capacity, as well as finance. And the EXP 10 still hasn"t been signed off by the board. We"ll tell you as soon as we know. Couldn"t keep it a secret, frankly."Aren"t there a scary number of rivals these days? "It actually helps if it has competition like the AMG GT and Aston Martin. It means people have already made a decision to be in that coupe market." Things like the Jaguar F-Type R (and the upcoming SVR) probably constitute the feeder group".Ok, what sort of car is it? Talking of the concept, Bentley"s boss Wolfgang D rheimer said, "It will be smaller than the Continental GT but not cheaper."Rose confirms to us that the Continental GT and the Flying Spur saloon will be replaced. So the EXP 10 or whatever the production version is called will need something special to differentiate it. That something will be performance and sporty character.Rose says it will use a version of a new VW Group platform matrix called MSB. This is rear-drive or 4WD, with a longitudinal engine. It was first designed for the next-gen Porsche Panamera. Because it"s modular (like MQB) several sizes of car can come from it.Says Rose: "The EXP 10 will take the MSB platform from Porsche. We will pay them for it but also we have a big hand in the development of that platform. The MSB will be the core platform for the GT, the Spur and the EXP 10 too. It can be different in the front and the rear and the middle."So you can create a sedan with sedan feel or a sports car with a sports-car feel. There"s lots of flexibility in the height too." So it"s possible to make slinky low cars including the EXP10 and Panamera, and higher ones including the next Spur.He says customers, even the technically savvy ones, don"t care about platform sharing. "They understand our modular sharing strategy. We can use common technology and get a different feel. I"ve never had a customer say That"s a shared part." It"s not an issue. Customers use sharing in their own businesses."
Date: 15 Dec 2015
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 674
