Posted on Friday 15 February 2008
Purists may scoff at the idea of a diesel powered Bentley but officials say the idea has merit. Bentley’s parent company Volkswagen, after all, has some of the most refined diesel powerplants on the planet, and it also has a number of high-performance engines including V10 and V12 units. There’s no reason why diesel can’t be an option for future models, but Bentley says there’s still not enough demand to warrant engineering the oil-burners for its cars.
Speaking recently with AutoTelegraaf, marketing director Adrian Hallmark said customers enjoy the high-torque and low-rev nature of a Bentley, and a diesel engine perfectly matches this criteria. Some of the engines available, include VW Group’s 5.0L V10 TDI but according to Hallmark the engine is too big to fit under the hood of the Continental GT and Flying Spur, the most likely models to receive a diesel if the project is given the green light.
Arch rival Rolls Royce is also rumored to be investigating the potential of a diesel model. Its parent, BMW, is developing a new twin-turbo V8 diesel, and this engine could potentially feature in the upcoming entry-level Rolls due at the end of the decade.