Celebrating a centenary with a look toward the next 100 years.… The post Bentley Goes Back to the Future appeared first on autoNXT.net.
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© Rod Hatfield, Automotive Content Experience
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Bentley’s Next Century
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© Rod Hatfield, Automotive Content Experience
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It?s
been 100 years since auto importer and entrepreneur Walter Owen Bentley
created his eponymous car company, and the famed British marque
celebrated its centenary in style this summer at the 2019 Pebble Beach
Concours d?Elegance. The Concours recognized Bentley?s milestone by
making it one of the event?s featured marques, so there were dozens — if
not hundreds — of Bentleys, both new and classic, around the Monterey
Peninsula during the Monterey Motoring Week. Although Bentley?s 100th
anniversay was the primary reason for all the recognition, the automaker
also revealed its latest creation. As a testament to W.O.’s objective
to build “a fast car, a good car, the best in its class,” Bentley
celebrates its centennial with a look to the future while keeping the
founder’s original objective in mind with an innovative concept, the EXP
100 GT.
Future of Luxury
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© Rod Hatfield, Automotive Content Experience
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“Today,
on our Centenary, we demonstrate our vision of the future of our
Marque, with the Bentley EXP 100 GT — a modern and definitive grand
tourer designed to demonstrate that the future of luxury mobility is as
inspirational and aspirational as the last 100 years,” said Bentley
Chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark. “Bentley has, and will continue to
enhance and enrich every single journey and the lives of every single
person who travels in, or has the honour to be a part of creating our
extraordinary products,” Hallmark exclaimed.
2035 Grand Tourer
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© Rod Hatfield, Automotive Content Experience
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The
EXP 100 GT is advanced in practically every way, with a high-tech
electric powertrain, autonomous driving abilities, futuristic artificial
intelligence and a design that reflects a future Bentley. The company
sees this concept as the Grand Tourer one could expect in the year 2035.
“The Bentley EXP 100 GT represents the kind of cars we want to make in
the future,” declared Bentley Director of Design Stefan Sielaff. “Like
those iconic Bentleys of the past, this car connects with its
passengers’ emotions and helps them experience and safeguard the
memories of the really extraordinary journeys they take, “ Sielaff
effused.
Bentley Presence
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© Rod Hatfield, Automotive Content Experience
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Bentley
engineers built the EXP 100 GT with aluminum and carbon fiber, which
keeps the vehicle light — an important point, since this is not a small
car. As a proper grand tourer, the EXP 100 GT possesses grand
dimensions, measuring almost 20 feet long and close to eight feet wide.
To say this car has presence is an understatement.
Coming to Life
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© Rod Hatfield, Automotive Content Experience
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While
the design of the EXP 100 GT is thoroughly modern, styling cues abound
that reference Bentley’s rich past. Up front big, round headlights
overlap the grille — a look similar to the powerful Blower Bentleys of
the 1920s. But the EXP 100 GT has a matrix grille that illuminates as
the driver approaches the car, as does the futuristic Flying B hood
ornament, giving the impression of the car coming to life.
Unique Rear Lighting
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© Rod Hatfield, Automotive Content Experience
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Lighting
also dominates the view from behind — a section of the boot (trunk) is a
3D OLED screen that allows a range of lighting effects to blend with
the rear taillights. The greenhouse narrows at the rear, which further
emphasizes large fenders that suggest broad shoulders. The powertrain is
fully electric, so no tailpipes for this GT.
The Doors
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© Rod Hatfield, Automotive Content Experience
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Even
though the EXP 100 GT would stand out in any crowd, it attracts even
more attention while the doors open — the large panels rotate out and
up, ultimately rising almost 10 feet in the air. Bentley designers claim
this adds a sense of occasion to the car’s arrival. An apt observation,
but the doors might be difficult to open in a typical garage — perhaps
garages of the future will be taller.
Light and Sustainability
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© Rod Hatfield, Automotive Content Experience
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Inside,
this stunning Bentley concept blends wood, leather and glass with light
for a unique ambience. Much of the light is natural, harvested via an
innovative glass roof embedded with prisms that transfer luminescence to
the cabin via fiber optics. Light can also be projected in patterns
onto trim panels for an artistic effect. Materials throughout represent a
sustainable future — something required of a company lasting another
100 years. Bentley uses copper-infused Riverwood sourced from fallen
trees that have been preserved for 5,000 years in bogs, lakes and
rivers. The seats are trimmed in an organic leatherlike material created
from the by-products of wine making. Carpets are woven from British
farmed wool.
Biometric Seating
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© Rod Hatfield, Automotive Content Experience
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Forward-thinking
designers of the EXP 100 GT’s interior created a unique occupancy
experience, referred to as Biometric seating. The seats rely on sensors
that can track eye and head movements; they also monitor temperature,
blood pressure, passenger position and exterior conditions and adjust
for ultimate comfort. The seats swivel rearward as the steering wheel
retracts when the EXP 100 GT converts to autonomous drive mode.
Drive or Be Driven
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© Rod Hatfield, Automotive Content Experience
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Bentley
designed the EXP 100 GT to be relished by a driver who loves the thrill
of carving a mountain road or cruising a curvy coastline. But for those
times when the driver chooses to disengage — sitting in traffic,
crossing Montana on a long, straight highway — autonomous mode can be
employed.
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