More details of the new Bentley Continental have emerged ahead of its debut late next year. Indeed, we?ve actually seen images of the car, albeit very quickly and in a video presentation that Bentley showed us during a briefing about its future design direction. Sadly, despite begging, we can?t share that with you, nor were we allowed to take pictures, so we’ve dropped in an image of the current car.
To judge from those fleeting frames, the new Continental is set to be far more dynamic looking than the current model, albeit clearly sharing much of the same DNA. It also looks to be both lower and more muscular. Design work was mostly done under Bentley?s former styling boss Luc Donckerwolke, who has recently moved to Hyundai, and the renderings showed some of the same edgy character he gave to the Murciélago and Gallardo during his time at Lamborghini, with both coupe and cabriolet versions looking ripped. We also noticed a ?12? logo on an air intake set into the trailing edge of the front wing, confirming our recent report that the Conti will offer both V-8 and W-12 configurations. Stefan Sielaff, Bentley?s newly arrived design director, confirmed the new car is a far more radical step than the first Continental GT?s refresh for 2011, which hid some substantial changes behind near-identical styling.
?Sometimes it?s easier to do a next-generation model than a whole-new model,? he told us at the event in London. ?You have to carry over certain ingredients from the old ...