Bentley may still be saying goodbye to its W12 engine with various swan song vehicles, but now it’s the turn of the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 to say goodbye. At least on the Continental and Flying Spur – the Bentayga will continue to exploit this powertrain for an undetermined time.
We don’t have a set quota for V8 sales in North America, but Bentley says production of the last 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 cars in Europe, the UK and the Middle East is expected to end soon, with final deliveries scheduled for June. North America will “come later.” Before you jump straight to the comments, know that this doesn’t mean Bentley is completely abandoning the V8. Along with this news, it announced that an “all-new” V8 plug-in hybrid powertrain is on the horizon and will be the company’s flagship offering, technically replacing the W12. Power output for this model is rated at 740 HP and battery electric range is estimated at 80 miles on the WLTP driving cycle – you can expect a much shorter range on the WLTP cycle Environmental Protection Agency testing. That’s all we know today, but Bentley says we’ll learn more over time
As for what will replace the soon-to-be-discontinued petrol-only V8 option, Bentley suggests that hybrid powertrains will be used and that by 2024 all model lines will offer a hybrid variant. The only non-hybrid model available so far is the Continental, so expect an announcement on that car soon.
To celebrate the end of the current V8 era, Bentley has prepared ‘Edition 8’ versions of its Flying Spur, Continental GT and Continental GTC. This is a North American special and comes with many Mulliner options as standard equipment. Continental models have Edition 8 badges on the fenders, while the Flying Spur wears them on the D-pillar. The Edition 8 motif can be seen embroidered on the seatbacks and also engraved on the door sill plates. A particularly noteworthy luxury touch is the Palm Fluting pattern (seen in the photo above) on the sumptuous seats, which Bentley says it has never before offered on any of its entry-level/mainstream models.
Deliveries of the Edition 8 will begin “immediately”, so if you’re a particularly huge fan of Bentley’s current V8 engine and have the money to spend, now is the time.
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