Continental GT

Make
Bentley
Segment
Coupe

After years of hard work, Porsche has finally taken the covers off of its all-new Panamera. Nobody save for a few Porsche engineers have gotten behind the wheel of the four-door sports car yet, but given how good the first Panamera was there is no doubt that the new generation will be more of the same but better. Like any tight-knit automotive family, Porsche is going to end up sharing the platform on which the new Panamera is based with its stuffier and upper class uncle, Bentley.

The English automaker was in bad shape when it was picked up by the Volkswagen Group. But thanks to the power of sharing things are looking up. Borrowing Audi's Q7 platform brought along the Bentayga, and now Bentley will be borrowing the platform of the second-generation Panamera to build the newest version of its Continental GT. The old Continental was based on an ancient Audi platform, which placed its engines ahead of the front axle, muddying up the driving dynamics of the front wheels. Porsche's MSB platform eliminates this, and the change should enable the new Continental to behave like a much more sophisticated car on the road. The platform is flexible too.

Electrification will make an appearance on future Panamera models, and this means that the Continental's platform will be able to support a hybrid drivetrain. With the Bentayga and the upcoming Continental GT replacement in the spotlight, Bentley is currently trying to decide which car it will build next. The company's CEO, Wolfgang Dürheimer, told Autocar that his goal is to see Bentley producing 20,000 cars per year by 2025. To meet this goal, the luxury automaker is deciding between building another SUV or a coupe based off of the EXP 10 Speed 6 concept. The SUV would be smaller and offer better on-road driving dynamics than the Bentayga. For now, all we can say is that Bentley is about to get a whole lot cooler thanks to VW.