Bentley starts Grand striptease

The first part of the show is the release of a shadowy shot of the new super-limo's grille and front end.

The new car — tagged the Grand Bentley for the pre-launch campaign — is only the fifth all-new four-door limousine in the company's 90-year history and will sit at the very top of the iconic luxury marque's range aimed directly at traditional rival Rolls-Royce.

"This is the all-new Grand Bentley ... this will be our pinnacle product," says Ed Striebig, regional manager for Bentley in Australia and New Zealand. "I think you have to be realistic about your volume expectations at that upper echelon of the market, but we are very confident that it will receive a good reception."

The Grand Bentley is the model Bentley has been in desperate need of for several years as the ageing Arnage range struggled to hold its own against newer, more technologically advanced products such as the Phantom from Rolls-Royce.

"I think it should certainly appeal to existing Arnage owners and to those people that perhaps more recently have looked to Rolls-Royce for a pinnacle limousine product," Striebig says. "But we also hope it will attract people who perhaps hadn't considered a car from Bentley in that segment of the market for some time by virtue of it being all new and state-of-the-art technology."

Striebig would not comment on suggestions the first concept model of the new car will be displayed at one of the world's peak gatherings for well-heeled car owners, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on August 16 where Bentley are this year a featured marque.

"We are not ready to announce our plans for market entry yet but there will be more information coming out within a couple of weeks," was all Striebig would say.

Arnage production officially ends in September which will clear space at the Crewe factory for the new car, although it is not expected to be available for at least another 12 months.

The Arnage replacement — it may well retain the historic nameplate — is expected to be built off a heavily modified version of Audi's modular platform seen in everything from the new A4 to the next A8. The V8 engine will be a bespoke Bentley powerplant and drive is most likely to be through ZF's new eight-speed automatic transmission.

The engine is certain to be an E85 capable flex-fuel unit in the same vein as the recently launched Continental Supersports.

While not confirming the new powerplant, Striebig says: "By 2012 all of our products across the whole portfolio will have flex-fuel capability, in the same way the Super Sport has.

"This is very exciting ... it is a very rare occurence. If you look back over the 90-year history of the Bentley marque there have only been five all-new four-door limousines.

"I know that everybody back at the factory — and there have been some 600 people involved directly from a design and engineering and manufacturing engineering perspective — is immensely proud to be involved."