Bentley Grille

Bentley Grille

It appears the four-door coupe segment may be too lucrative even for Bentley to ignore as there are reports emerging that claim the ultra-luxury marque from Crewe is considering launching its own version. Designed to challenge the likes of the Aston Martin Rapide and Maserati Quattroporte, the new four-door coupe isn’t expected to serve as a replacement for Bentley’s existing sedan models but rather as a way to take the brand into new territory.

The information was revealed by Bentley boss Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen who spoke with AutoExpress on the sidelines of the recent 2010 Paris Auto Show. Paefgen explained that Bentley was looking to introduce a “third generation” model to sit below the Continental and Mulsanne lines.  

Styling would be based along the lines of the Continental rather than Mulsanne, and to differentiate it from the Continental Flying Spur the new four-door coupe would have a dramatically sloping roofline leading to a hatchback rear. 

To cut development costs, the four-door coupe would share a platform with the Audi A7 and could potentially be the lightest and most fuel efficient model Bentley has on offer. Power would come from a new 4.0-liter V-8 engine that’s set to debut at the end of this year in the 2011 Bentley Continental GT, with drive sent to all four wheels as standard.  

Since there's no confirmation from Bentley that such a model is in the works we can only surmise that any release date would be still several years away--if the project actually gets the green light.

[AutoExpress]