Bentley Flying Spur 2020: images, prices, specs and release date

Bentley has revealed the first images of its new Flying Spur luxury saloon, which is due to be unveiled later this year.

Based on the company’s Continental GT grand tourer, the Flying Spur has historically featured a longer wheelbase to accommodate two extra doors and greater head and legroom for those in the back seats.

Though Bentley is currently referring to the car as the “new Flying Spur”, Autocar claims that the British marque is expected to give its entry-level saloon a different name.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

All will be revealed when the covers come off later this year.

For now, though, here’s everything we know about the next-generation Flying Spur:

Price

In V8 trim, the Flying Spur is usually a little cheaper than its £160,000 two-door counterpart. Outgoing models sell for around £132,000, so expect the new model to cost a few thousand more.

Release date

There’s no official word on when the car will be unveiled. However, there’s a good chance it will appear at the Frankfurt Motor Show, which runs from 12 to 22 September, as Bentley chose the German event to unveil its new Continental GT two years ago.

Design

It’s difficult to decipher the car’s design using the official teaser images alone.

Thankfully, though, there have been a number of sightings of the four-door model undergoing pre-production tests, which gives us a far better look at the car’s styling.

Images posted on motoring news site Carscoops show that the Flying Spur will have a similar grille design to the Continental GT, though the four-door model’s front-end appears to be flatter than the two-door car.

However, the B-pillar, the section of bodywork between the front and rear doors, to the back of the car is completely different to the Continental GT.

Aside from gaining an extra set of doors, the Flying Spur has a taller roofline and shallower rear window. The back of the car looks similar to the old model, swapping the Continental GT’s distinct oval tail lights for a more conventional design.

What’s more, the car in the spy shots appears to be a plug-in hybrid, as the vehicle is connected to some sort of charging station.

Engines and performance

Top-of-the-range models are expected to get Bentley’s signature 6.0-litre W12 engine, which produces 626bhp and 664lb ft of torque, says Auto Express.

Below that sits a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 model with 542bhp and 568lb ft of torque, the magazine adds. Bentley claims the car can go for 500 miles on one tank of petrol thanks to cylinder deactivation and stop/start technology.

While Evo says there’s a chance Bentley could fit the diesel engine from the Bentayga SUV into the new Flying Spur, Autocar claims that the company will instead launch the four-door saloon with a plug-in hybrid V6 petrol motor. The latter seems more likely, given that the car has been spotted at an EV charging station.