Bespoke, new Continental GT Speed leads US debut [Photo Gallery]

Bentley’s new, fourth-generation Continental GT Speed is to make its US debut this week, at the prestigious The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering – part of Monterey Car Week. The launch will feature the first new Continental GT Speed to include bespoke content added by Mulliner, Bentley’s in-house personalisation and coachbuilding division.

Responsible not only for bespoke work to mainstream Bentley models, now including the new Continental GT Speed, Mulliner also created the Blower and Speed Six Continuation Series and the exquisite and highly limited Bacalar, Batur and Batur Convertible coachbuilt Bentleys.

Personally Commissioned Through Mulliner
From launch, the new Continental GT Speed is available with personalised details through Mulliner’s Personal Commissioning Guide. This permits customers to explore their imagination away from the typical options list, which alone can create tens of billions of possible specification combinations.

For Monterey Car Week, an orange-themed GT Speed created through Mulliner will lead the fleet. The exterior paintwork is finished in Orange Flame Satin, one of 15 satin colours in Bentley’s paint range that each take up to 55 hours of craftsmanship to apply and finish to the perfect standard. In contrast to the orange bodywork, all exterior brightware is finished in gloss black, with matching black-painted 22” ten-spoke wheels with self-levelling badges. The visual impact of the specification is matched aurally, thanks to a sports exhaust and the Naim for Bentley audio system.

The interior is where the Personal Commissioning Guide elements come to the fore. Starting from a cabin crafted in Gravity Grey (a new shade for the new Continental GT Speed) and Brunel leathers, accents of contrast orange bring the cockpit to life. The Diamond Quilted areas to the seats, doors and rear quarter panels feature contrast-stitching in Gravity Grey. The same colour is used with a Piano finish in conjunction with Piano Brunel for dual finish painted fascias, with the centre console matching in Piano Brunel – both colours exactly matched to their respective hides.

Accents in Mandarin – a bright orange – are then applied as a painted pinstripe to the fascias, door waistrails and the vanes of the upper ‘bullseye’ air vents. The split line through the two colours of the fascias carries a dark tint finish. The same Mandarin orange accent graces all four seats through contrast piping, carrying the orange theme from the exterior into the cabin.

Bentley at Monterey Car Week
A fleet of more than 30 new Continental GT Speeds has now arrived in North America, ready to start a nationwide dealer tour and a programme of customer drives and events to demonstrate the incredible potency of Bentley’s new Ultra Performance Hybrid powertrain. The latest evolution of the Continental GT family features an all-new 4.0-litre, twin-turbo V8 engine paired with a powerful electric motor and 25.9 kWh battery, for an astonishing suite of performance statistics. The new Grand Tourer is a true everyday supercar and can accelerate from standstill to 60 mph in just 3.1 seconds, achieve a top speed of 208 mph, and yet travel 50 miles on electric power alone on the EU drive cycle – while creating only 29 g/km of CO₂  and with a total range of more than 500 miles.

Bentley will continue its significant presence across Monterey Car Week for 2024. Along with the squadron of new Continental GT Speeds, two very special Bentleys have made the journey to California for the event

Following a global dynamic debut at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Speed Six Continuation Series will appear on-the-road throughout Monterey Car Week. After the Bedford Grey ‘Factory Works’ car graced Goodwood, the Parsons Napier Green ‘Car Zero’ – which has recently completed the engineering test and development programme for the project – will be used for customer, media and VIP passenger rides across the week.

The Bentley Heritage Collection’s 1961 S2 Drophead Coupe – one of just 15 ever made – will also join the event, fresh from a two-year restoration programme. The car represents Bentley’s first ever entry into the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Sunday, taking pride of place in the Post-War Touring class.

Meanwhile, Bentley’s iconic Friday night dinner on Seal Rock Beach returns, sponsored this year by the Bentley Environmental Foundation and featuring some exciting new developments for the initiative. The new GT Speed coupe and Convertible will be joined by the S2 Drophead Coupe and Speed Six to form a Guard of Honour at Bentley’s famous Signature Party at the Beach & Tennis Club – the place to be on the Saturday night of Monterey Car Week.

The new Continental GT Speed

The fourth generation Continental GT Speed follows in the 21-year tradition of the Continental GT family by redefining the ultimate blend of supercar performance, handcrafted luxury and everyday usability.

A comprehensive exterior and interior redesign with clean modern detailing follow the new design DNA established by the coachbuilt Bentley Bacalar and Batur. Outstanding performance is brought by the all-new Ultra Performance Hybrid powertrain with 782 PS and 1,000 Nm, from a 4.0-litre V8 working in tandem with a 190 PS electric motor.

The performance of the powertrain is matched by a new chassis system, with new two-chamber air springs paired with new dual-valve dampers, along with Bentley Dynamic Ride (48V active anti-roll control), eLSD and torque vectoring. Incredible body control and the best Continental GT ride comfort to date are the results, supported by a 49:51, rear-biased weight distribution for the first time in the car’s history.

Under the skin, a suite of innovative modern technology delivers class-leading capability so that every journey is a seamless experience in terms of driver assistance, infotainment systems and connected car services.

The new exterior continues the design revolution for Bentley’s future journey, with the biggest revision to the face of the Continental GT in two decades, and the first mainstream Bentley with single headlamps since the 1950s.

World-leading Bentley interior cabin design, materials, quality, and craftsmanship continue with the introduction of further wellness seat technology, new air ionisation, three-dimensional leather textures, new modern quilting, and technical finishes such as new dark chrome.

For the first time in the history of the Continental GT, the convertible Continental GTC is being launched concurrently with the coupe – providing ultimate flexibility for customers who appreciate both open topped and closed roof motoring.

Both coupe and convertible models will be crafted entirely by hand at Bentley’s Dream Factory in Crewe, England. Production is due to begin in late Q3 with deliveries starting in Q4.