Bentley unveils all-new Flying Spur

MANILA, Philippines - Bentley establishes a new luxury performance sedan benchmark with the launch of the new Flying Spur. With its unrivalled blend of effortless driveability, exquisite luxury and craftsmanship, sculpted design and state-of-the-art technology, the new Flying Spur takes the worldwide success of its iconic predecessor further. Bentley’s most powerful four-door model ever makes its global debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show on 5th March.

Bentley’s styling team has developed an athletic design for the new Flying Spur that combines traditional Bentley styling cues with a sporting stance and contemporary details. Sharp feature lines complement muscular rear haunches, while LED day-time running lights, dipped headlights and taillights characterise the front and rear profiles. The interior designers have created a luxurious, spacious cabin that dresses advanced acoustic and electronic technologies in exquisite handcrafted leather and wood.

Occupants interface with the car and the outside world through touchscreen infotainment, mobile connectivity including Wi-Fi, a Rear Seat Entertainment suite and a new handheld Touchscreen Remote which allows rear-cabin occupants to control an extensive range of features from the comfort of their seat. An 8-channel, 8-speaker audio system with Balanced Mode Radiators provides high quality sound clarity, with the 1100W Naim for Bentley premium system available as an option.

Powering the new Flying Spur is Bentley’s renowned 6.0-liter, twin-turbo W12 engine, coupled to an 8-speed transmission. Developing 625psS and 800Nm of torque, the new Flying Spur features more power than any other Bentley four-door in history. This powerplant delivers a breathtaking 0-60 mph time of 4.3 seconds and a top speed of 322kph. In the modern Bentley tradition, power is delivered to the road via all-wheel drive for a sure-footed drive in all road and weather conditions.

Bentley Chairman and Chief Executive, Dr Wolfgang Schreiber, comments: “Bentley’s new Flying Spur is the ultimate luxury performance sedan. Our engineers have worked tirelessly to ensure that the Flying Spur is the perfect combination of power, comfort, refinement and handcrafted quality. Fitted with the very latest technology, the new Flying Spur is equipped both for business and relaxation whilst remaining a car to enjoy from behind the wheel.”

The styling of the new Flying Spur establishes a new design character for Bentley’s performance sedan. An elegant direction is reflected by a lower, wider appearance with sharp lines and gently curvaceous surfaces. A lower roof line, deeply sculpted panels, precise feature lines and a muscular rear haunch give the Flying Spur a more aggressive stance and a powerfully dynamic profile.

The front fenders feature a striking new wing vent complete with an elegant Bentley “B” motif. From here, an additional feature line forms a sharply defined edge running from the front wheel all the way to the rear bumper, underlining the shape’s dynamic character.

At the front of the car, a more upright chrome grille sits between the pairs of jewel-like LED headlamps. Emphasising the lower, wider stance, the outer lamps are the larger of the two. Beneath the front grille, the lower intake is now full width with no vertical divisions, but instead with a chromed horizontal accent that completes the dramatic face of the new Flying Spur.

At the rear, a longer and lower boot lid lends a more swept appearance to the side profile. Horizontal single ellipse LED tail lamps combine with a new interpretation of the Bentley “Horse Shoe” feature line, now running the full width of the car and encapsulating a graceful concave section.

Designed to improve overall body stiffness and refinement while meeting stringent crash performance targets and pedestrian protection laws, the new body structure includes reinforcement to the B-posts, sills and front crossmembers together with deformable components in the floorpan for optimal load transfer. A deployable hood that includes both new reinforcement panels and deformation elements helps to improve pedestrian impact performance.

The hood and front fenders are made of aluminum, with the fenders shaped using the aerospace-industry superforming technique, employing compressed air to shape heated sheets of alloy into the required form at over 500°C. Further weight savings are achieved through the crafting of the trunklid in a polymer composite material.

Weight savings in the body structure and throughout the car mean that the new Flying Spur is 50 kg lighter than the first generation car, despite the additional refinement measures, enhanced technology specification and stronger structure.

The sleek shape also has outstanding aerodynamic properties for a large sedan, with an overall drag coefficient of just 0.29 and ensuing benefits to emissions performance.