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GENEVA — It isn’t often that a car literally makes you say WTF aloud. But it isn’t often that you see a V12-powered SUV. A Bentley SUV, no less. Pictures cannot convey the obnoxious scale of the Bentley EXP 9F concept here at the Geneva auto show, so we’ll tell you it rides on 23-inch wheels and leave it at that. It’s hard to make sense of the 9F and its unashamed bling at a time when so many automakers are stuffing small engines into small cars, or eschewing engines and petrol for motors and batteries. Naturally, the 9F comes with a 12-cylinder engine, although Bentley’s Peter Guest was quick to note aplug-in hybrid would be an option, were the behemoth to make it into production. Bentley is currently gauging reception from the few hundred people in the world who a.) would want a Bentley SUV and b.) could afford it.
The 9F feels terribly wrong on all levels until you sit in on a few press conferences with luxury automakers who say the United States remains their largest market, but China isn’t far behind. Maserati, for instance, already sells half as many Maserati GranTurismos in China as they do in the states. And Bentley, which saw a banner year in 2011, enjoys particularly brisk sales in China. So from that perspective, the 9F makes a ton of sense (more like four tons, given the car’s dimensions). It’s perfect for a violently nouveaux riche market. It’s big, it’s brash and it’s completely obvious, a Continental GT on steroids. The EXP 9F — Bentley has since 1919 used the EXP designation for all experimental or concept cars, and says it “is meant to stand for ground-breaking innovation” — looks like it was carved from a block of alloy. It’s got everything you’d expect from a vehicle that will never go off-road, including all-wheel drive, along with a 6.0-liter V12. No word on when, or if, the 9F might see production, but Bentley did say many of its current customers also have an SUV in the garage, and there’s no sense giving that business to, say, Mercedes-Benz. Photos: Peter Orosz/Wired.com |
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