Bentley seriously wants to make sure the millionaires who buy the Bentayga SUV know that they're getting something much more special than a "camouflaged Audi Q7" as Rolls-Royce's CEO called it. That's why it offered the SUV with an exotic twin-turbo 6.0-liter W12 engine right off the bat and only threw a V8 under the hood to satisfy diesel fanatics. Even then it gave the engine a complex triple charging system that includes two turbos and an electric supercharger to make it more extraordinary than a standard V8.

But times are a-changin' and rumor mills are a-spewin'. That includes German news outlet Auto Motor und Sport, which now claims that the Bentayga will be getting a gasoline-powered V8. Perhaps Bentley wants to keep regulators from blowing a gasket or maybe it wants to appeal to buyers who enjoy simplicity but like the diesel, the gasoline power plant will be a 4.0-liter V8. No further information about the engine was given, but we'd be surprised to see if it was something other than the Volkswagen Group's 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 that's currently found in the Porsche Cayenne, and Lamborghini Urus where it makes 550 horsepower and 650 horsepower respectively.

Given that AMS didn't cite a source, there's no telling if the news has solid grounding, but if Bentley really is planning a gasoline-fed V8 Bentayga we'd expect power output to lie closer to the Porsche Cayenne's camp than the Lamborghini's. That's because such a V8 is likely to be used to make an entry-level Bentayga, which certainly couldn't surpass the W12's 600 horsepower threshold. The new engine fits with Bentley's plans for the future outlined by CEO Wolfgang Durheimer, which include an expanded range with a plug-in hybrid variant that could share drivetrain hardware with the Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid. For now we can expect the new V8 Bentayga to be revealed to the world in early 2018-if the rumors hold true that is.