Bentley’s new 771bhp Flying Spur hybrid will be its most powerful saloon ever
With its shift from a W12 to a plug-in V8 powertrain, the new-look Flying Spur will get Porsche-matching power
While we mourn the death of Bentley’s W12 engine, Crewe is preparing an even more powerful Ultra Performance Hybrid powertrain to take its place. We’ve already had a taste of the new electrified V8 engine in a Continental GT prototype, and now Bentley has confirmed it will make its way to the Flying Spur saloon in due course.
The new Flying Spur will sit alongside the facelifted Continental GT unveiled earlier this year, sporting similar design, chassis and powertrain upgrades. On the performance front, a 4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 will work in tandem with an electric motor housed in the eight-speed automatic gearbox to produce 771bhp and 738lb ft of torque – 145bhp and 74lb ft more than the outgoing Flying Spur Speed. Using the same powertrain, the Continental GT reaches 60mph in 3.1sec, 100mph in 6.9 and reaches a 208mph top speed.
If those power figures sound familiar, that’s because they’re identical to the newly revealed Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, which will share certain components – including its 25.9kWh battery pack – with the Flying Spur. From a full charge, the luxury saloon will achieve 45 miles of electric running, five short of the Continental.
To harness this extra performance – and control the weight associated with the hybrid system – the Flying Spur is likely to adopt the Continental’s revised two-chamber air suspension and dual-valve dampers, albeit with specific tuning for the saloon. Rear-wheel steering, active anti-roll control and torque vectoring are expected to feature, too, with an enormous brake package with 10-piston front calipers bringing everything to a halt.
Visually, the new Flying Spur will adopt design themes seen on the Batur and Continental, with more definition and less clutter on its bodywork. The interior will be largely carried over from the previous Flying Spur, with additional software features available through the new Bentley App.
A release date and pricing haven’t been announced for the new Flying Spur yet, but expect the plug-in version to be the only model available, replacing both the W12 and existing pure-ICE V8.
