Currently reading: 'Baby' Bentley planned for 2020

A new, smaller Bentley is under consideration for the end of the decade, alongside a £300,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom rival

Bentley will broaden its range with a fifth showroom model by the end of the decade, which will be built at the firm’s Crewe UK headquarters, take the firm in a fresh direction and guarantee long-term sales growth.

Speaking at the Geneva motor show, Bentley Sales and Marketing boss Kevin Rose told Autocar that the car was planned for 2019 at the earliest, after the launch of the Bentley SUV and next-generation Continental GT and Flying Spur. “It’s hard to be certain what the market will demand that far into the future,” Rose said. “At the moment, our line of thinking is for a smaller car. But smaller doesn’t necessarily mean cheaper.”

“The twin pillars of the Bentley brand are performance and luxuriousness,” Rose went on. “Any car that offers something unique, with both of those bases well covered, is on the table. But we would never try to copy a Ferrari or a Porsche.”

A cheaper entry-level Bentley, undercutting the current Continental GT without straying below the £100,000 marker, is being considered, as is something even more expensive than the current Mulsanne, potentially giving the firm a £300,000 alternative to a Rolls-Royce Phantom. But the former would have much greater sales potential.

“The most important thing for us is to do something genuinely new within our market niche,” said Rose.

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce PhantomTesla RoadsterAriel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren SennaRenault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.

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pauld101 24 April 2014

Actually, Mr Rose...

Actually, Mr Rose, the twin pillars of the Bentley brand are more likely to be performance and luxury, as there is no such word as luxuriousness. Probably just got lost in the German translation somewhere along the linearinessnousness.
Saucerer 5 March 2014

I presume this new small car

I presume this new small car will be a rival to the 5-Series, considering the Continental range is a S-Class/7-Series rival? As for a larger car to rival the Phantom, that's what the Mulsanne is.
unionjack 5 March 2014

Baby Bentley

I presume what they mean is a 5 series / A6 / E-Class sized car with a 7 series / A8 / S-Class sized price tag. Expect 8 cylinder engines only, and possibly hybrids at that stage.