Bentley has launched a new extended-wheelbase (EWB) version of its Bentayga SUV which, it says, offers more luxury and a focus on "wellness", but does away with the seven-seater option found in the shorter model.
The EWB will be an important car for Bentley: the Bentayga made up more than a third of the company's sales last year - the company's best-ever year despite the Covid pandemic - and Bentley anticipates that the EWB model will make up 45 per cent of Bentayga sales in the future.
More interior space
Based on the same architecture as the standard Bentayga, the EWB lengthens the wheelbase by 180mm creating more room in the cabin, particularly for rear seat passengers. The new model is now almost 30cm longer than a full-sized Range Rover and, though the exterior has seen a few minor tweaks, the big news is the interior changes.
A four-plus-one seating configuration is the standard interior layout, the two 16-way adjustable outer rear seats with heating, ventilation and massage functions being particularly comfortable; the middle seat serves for occasional use and can be folded down for access to or from the boot. Alternatively, the middle seat can be deleted altogether (Four Seat Comfort specification) or the EWB Bentayga can be specified as a five-seater to allow the back-rests to be fully folded down.
With the Four Seat Comfort spec, there's the option of an integrated drinks cooler in the centre console capable of accommodating a 750ml bottle and which comes with two crystal champagne flutes. The company says that space and luxury rather than people-moving ability were customers' top priorities and that that's the reason the Bentayga EWB isn't getting a seven-seat option.
Airline seats
The headline interior feature is the optional "Airline" rear seating whose back-rests can be reclined by 40 degrees with a carpet- and leather-clad foot-rest extending from the rear of the seat in front. The settings of the Airline seats are adjusted by a handheld touchscreen remote, with additional switches mounted on the doors.
The seats are packed with sensors - here's the "wellness" part - and, when the occupant selects their desired body temperature, the sensors monitor contact temperature and humidity (sweat) in order to maintain that temperature, something Bentley cites as being beneficial to cognitive functioning and reducing fatigue. The Postural Adjustment function uses air pockets and the seat motors to slightly manipulate the position of the thighs, lumbar area and shoulders up to 117 times every three hours to ease pressure points and relieve strain on the occupant. This can, Bentley says, reduce mental stress. Should that seat occupant find that they don't have enough room, they can use the touchscreen remote to move the front passenger seat forward by selecting "VIP" mode.
Sumptuous surroundings
Regardless of whether the Airline seats are chosen or not, the Bentayga EWB's interior features sumptuous surroundings with finely stitched diamond-quilted leather, the option of metal-style veneering on the doors and passenger fascia panel (as seen in the Continental Mulliner) and a diamond illumination pattern on the doors created by LED lighting shining through tiny perforations in the leather. Electrically closing doors can also be specified as an option and the motors will also provide some gentle assistance upon opening.
The quiet, refined and vibration-reduced cabin, Bentley says, helps to reduce intrusive road noise - important, it claims, given research that showed that thousands of people exposed to traffic noise in excess of 70 decibels over four years were 65 per cent more at risk of depression. The extra sunlight provided by moving the panoramic sunroof back towards the rear slightly should also be beneficial to the mental and physical health of those captains of industry in the rear.
Despite the extra length, the turning circle of the Bentayga EWB is actually 7 per cent smaller than that of the standard model thanks to the new all-wheel steering. Power still comes courtesy of a 4.0-litre twin-turbo petrol engine developing 550hp and a 0-100km/h time of 4.6 seconds.