According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Bentley is considering putting in hybrid or diesel engines as early as next year (found via GermanCarBlog). While I couldn't begin to translate the article, autobloggreen has.
According to them Bentley (which is connected to Volkswagen) is looking to transform their image by installing diesel and hybrid engine into next year's models. Profitability comes first, however.
Perhaps they are just responding to other luxury car makers recent announcements on providing hybrids in the coming years.
Autoblog would prefer they just make diesel engines, but I'd say that's only going to help part of their image. Wouldn't hybrid engines help Bentley when it comes to future guidelines regarding emissions? Also, if they are looking to expand into the US, hybrids are currently more popular than diesels.
As a side note (again from the translation from autobloggreen), Bentley sold about 9,300 vehicles last year. Their sales goal is to sell between 9 and 10,000 vehicles a year.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Bentley Hybrid
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2 comments:
It would be great if Bentley leads the way by putting out a Hybrid or lighter weight more fuel efficient car in the next year or two. This is not about taking away performance from the car because as we have seen from Lexus cars they have a Hybrid that improves mileage of the car by 20 percent but still has great performance. With the 5,600 pounds of the car they can save weight by using more aluminum and carbon fiber while keeping the fantastic full time four wheel drive.
The goal should be to cut 400 to 700 pounds off the car and switching to a W-8 configuration if they could bring the car weight under 5,000 pounds that would be ideal. We know that people who drive Bentley's can afford the gas this is just to send a message to high end automakers that it is time for luxury car makers to step up and lead the way not follow. I am pretty confident that car makers such as Bentley would enjoy a huge up tick in sales by doing this because going green has become the mantra of the rich right now in many areas of the US.
Has a Bentley fan I have enjoyed watching them bring out fantastic cars such as the GT with it's very forward thinking design and it being such a great road car. I am sure what ever they bring out in the future will continue to show why their sales are growing and not slowing because of their vision for the future. If they do deliver a Hybrid it will force other super luxury car builders to design more green cars and it will help their sales in the future it could help add 1,500 to 2,000 or more sales in the US in a year that is not a joke.
I can't say I disagree with any of that. Of course, if they just cut out 5,600 lbs in weight, their fuel efficiency would shoot right up.
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