tommallett

Bentley has unveiled a new SUV and the general view seems to be that it lacks some sartorial elegance, to put it mildly. It got me thinking though, I wonder whether it will grow on me or not? Whether it will be refined to the point that the rough edges of the concept are made more acceptable? And whether I will pass one in the street in two years time without a backward glance?

At the moment I find the chances of me accepting the Bentley SUV in its current form pretty unlikely, but maybe the highly paid designers are a damn sight cleverer than me. I remember not being entirely sold on the current Range Rover, and I was wrong to doubt it, I would happily drive one and I think it is both elegant and classy.

Chris Bangle is another great example of a designer who was ahead of his time, especially with the infamous BMW’s from earlier this century. They sold in bucket loads and the rear end of the 7 series was then copied by Mercedes, albeit with a little more subtlety. Further to that, the theory behind iDrive was unashamedly copied by Audi and Mercedes. We laughed at Bangle in 2001, but today, the sales figures show, he has the last laugh.

The other thing we must realise, and anyone who has toured the Bentley or Rolls-Royce factories will attest, is that ‘old’ English money no longer buys the majority of the cars that leave the factory gates of these ‘old’ English marques. Quite simply, what you and I think about the new Bentley SUV really may not matter all that much.

We must accept that the Chinese, Russian and Indian markets will lap this up, regardless of the European Press’s reaction, and we have to accept that if a Bentley SUV is needed to make the company profitable, so we can keep driving its other products, then that is the way it must be.

So, the Range Rover grew on me, Bangle was proved right by the sales figures, and the Chinese market and to a lesser extent footballers wives will dictate that this car sells. Bentley is moving with the times (I think) and so must we.

Images: courtesy of Bentley