Bentley CEO Wolfgang Durheimer recently confirmed that the storied British marque will be producing an SUV, and that it will be available in 2015. He has said that it will be built on an existing VW Group platform, most likely the PL71 that underpins the Touareg and the Porsche Cayenne. The platform is a capable one in off-road situations, and Durheimer has promised that the presently-unnamed SUV will be able to hold its own on the dirt.

The companies new 4.0-liter V8 will be offered, along with yet-to-be-named 12-cylinder power plant. This is likely to be the 6.0-liter W12 from the Continental, which was in turn borrowed from the Volkswagen Phaeton. This is much more of a parts-bin approach than Bentley has taken in the past, but with an estimated price of £140,000, it will also be on the cheap side for a product from Crewe.