Crossover fever: Bentley could introduce a smaller SUV

By Ronan Glon January 10, 2015

crossover fever bentley introduce smaller suv 1 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Bentley Motors appears to have caught crossover fever. The automaker is busily putting the final touches on its first-ever crossover, and CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer has revealed that executives are already debating whether or not to follow up with a smaller and more accessible model.

The Crewe-based automaker points out that the SUV market is expanding at three times the rate of the new car market. Additionally, Dürheimer explained that the company’s motivation for adding a second crossover to its lineup comes from the interest that consumers have shown for its first off-roader. The yet-unnamed model hasn’t been officially presented yet but Bentley has already received 4,000 serious “expressions of interest” from buyers all around the globe, a number that exceeds the 3,000 units that the company was hoping to sell each year.

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Executives believe that adding a second off-roader would help Bentley reach its ambitious goal of selling 20,000 cars annually by the year 2020.

“[A smaller SUV] is definitely one of the ideas we have, but our store of ideas gets bigger and bigger,” affirmed Dürheimer in an interview with British magazine Autocar.

Bentley’s first off-roader will likely be presented at a major auto show this year. If given the green light for production, its smaller sibling isn’t expected to land until 2019 at the very earliest.

Contributor

Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…

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