Bentley goes hybrid with the Bentayga, makes two kinds of green
Because hey, even plutocrats can care about the environment.
What are you supposed to do when you absolutely, positively must spend $200,000 on an SUV to look proper in Brentwood, but you still need to impress your "green" friends out in Santa Monica? Until now, this was a question without an answer, thankfully Bentley is here to help you out.
To appease those who care more about dead dinosaurs than dead cows, Bentley is planning to unveil a fancy new hybrid drivetrain for the Bentayga SUV at the Geneva Motor Show in March. That setup is expected bear a marked similarity to Porsche's Cayenne Hybrid, which mates a 2.9-liter V6 with a 136 hp electric motor and produces a combined 462 hp. Granted, we wouldn't be surprised to see the Bentley version make some extra jam over the Porsche, given it has the weight of a small moon to drag around.
Bentley's first SUV, the Bentayga, has proved itself popular with the Goyard and Black Card crowd since it came out in 2016. Up until now, its only engine offering in the US has been a big, thirsty twin-turbocharged W12 that's good for 600 horsepower and more than 600 pound-feet of torque, if not the environment.
Bentley is also ready to offer customers the option of turbocharged gasoline-powered V8 sometime this month, which, unlike the diesel, we'll get here in the US. This should also serve to further cement the Bentayga as Bentley's hottest seller going forward, so don't expect to get any respect on Abbot-Kinney this year if you're still rolling around in a Range Rover, mkay?
