Bentley is set to reveal its most future-thinking concept for years later today, marking the brand's centenary.
The EXP 100 GT concept will showcase a zero-emission “future of grand touring”, according to the brand. It'll look further forward than most of the brand's previous EXP concepts.
The concept, first reported by Autocar earlier this year, will celebrate to the day the centenary of the marque. As well as offering zero emissions, it will be capable of driving autonomously.
The first image and video (below) of the concept, showing the nameplate, has been revealed today.
Bentley describes the concept as a “showcase of sustainability and innovation”.
It continued: “It will feature a fascinating array of materials seamlessly blended together by the designers at Bentley Motors, who have taken handscraftmenship of materials to an as yet unseen level.”
While Bentley hasn’t confirmed the powertrain of the EXP 100 GT, Autocar sources say it is powered by a hydrogen hybrid, making it the first time Bentley has demonstrated an interest in hydrogen power.
Its first petrol-hybrid, a variant of the Bentayga, will launch in August this year. Meanwhile, a full electric model will arrive within five years.
While not yet confirmed, the concept is set to show a transparent OLED display on door cards, first talked about by Bentley in early 2017. The OLED display could overlay wood veneers and only be visible when in use, to control features such as audio. A version of the technology was shown in Bentley's EXP12 Speed 6 e concept.
Design director Stefan Sielaff told Autocar earlier this year that the concept is “a manifesto for how we see Bentley in the future”.
He said at the time: “It’s a view into the future. We don’t want to show a spaceship. It should be something that everyone knows is a Bentley and that the technology we show [is credible]. It’s not only a design statement but a statement for the company.
“It’s about sustainability, social responsibility, local sourcing, materials. It’s a big change in our thinking because society is changing.”
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EXP12 Speed 6 e concept revealed
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Future travel......
Seems that in the future,maybe 2050 we’ll be transported by fully autonomous Cars, there no getting away from it,and along with EV power, this is how it’s going to be, there will still have to be various levels of cars say from a Fiesta size up to, well a Bentley size, of course there will still be ICE powered cars for the enthusiast,but as I said at the beginning....this is the future....
Where's the market?
There's substantial interest in Autonomous cars from city dwellers - but these are people who don't buy cars, they don't need them.
Autonomous cars will never work in extremely rural locations, there will never be a business case for extending the mobile network infrastructure to blanket coverage nationally - which full AVs require to operate.
There will always be an interface between AV only and AV/manual drive vehicles. Hubs at the edge of cities and geofencing.
The whole AV model requires the current trend of urbanisation (predicted to be the vast majority of the population by 2050) to be correct. However, historically urbanisation is cyclic.
In short, complete saturation by AVs is extremely unllikely to ever happen.
The crowd is wrong - as per usual.
Grand touring where you don't drive? ....
Self driving GT - hardly makes it a motor for the purist motor enthusiasts!
But then, it is just a Bentley - a rebadged VW-group vehicle with added chrome bling.
Interesting to see two different stances on self driving within VW group for sporting cars.
Porsche stating they will only apply driver assist functions - Bentley going for full self driving. Divide and conquer?