There's been plenty of talk of Bentley adding a fifth model line to join its Continental GT, Flying Spur, Bentayga and Mulsanne, with the leading speculation calling for a two-seat sports car along the lines of the EXP 10 Speed 6 concept rolled out at the 2015 Geneva auto show.
In a detailed interview with Autocar, Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark, who took over the reins from Wolfgang Dürheimer a year ago, threw cold water on the possibility of a sports car, explaining that the segment hasn't really recovered since the last recession and that younger buyers are more interested in sedans and SUVs.
“The sports car sector, like our own, is highly volatile in a recession. It can drop 50 or 60 percent. Only this time, the sports car sector forgot to recover. And if you look at their history, and the average age of their buyers, you’ll see the age goes up by one every year. It means the cars are being bought by the same old enthusiasts,” he said.
Unfortunately, Hallmark didn't provide any clues on what future segment or segments Bentley could enter.
Reports from June indicated that the Bentayga could be joined by a coupe-like SUV, likely based on the same platform as the Audi Q8 and the related coupe-like Porsche Cayenne currently being worked on. Both vehicles ride on a version of the Volkswagen Group's MLB Evo platform, the same platform found in the Bentayga.
We've also heard that Bentley is looking at adding an electric car to its lineup. There are rumblings the zero-emission Bentley could be a coupe-like sedan twinned with the Porsche Taycan or the planned Audi Sport e-tron GT, though Bentley is yet to indicate whether such a vehicle might happen.
