Hot Bentley Continental Supersports to get rear-wheel drive in attempt to tame the Aston Martin Vanquish

A new era of high-performance Bentley Continental GTs is about to begin, with the British brand issuing a second teaser image of its new flagship ‘Supersports’ model as a possible rival to the Ferrari 12Cilindri and Aston Martin Vanquish. Billed as the “lightest, most driver-focused” Conti GT ever, the new car will be revealed in New York on 14 November.

The first image surfaced last month and showed the darkened rear of a modified Continental GT with a large spoiler, redesigned bumper and more aggressive diffuser. This new picture shows a close-up of the car’s front wheel, plus what looks like plenty of carbon-fibre trim on the sill. It also reveals the ‘Supersports’ badge for the first time.

Further to this, we can make out what looks like some matt paint and copper-coloured details, while behind the multi-spoke wheel looks to be a set of carbon-ceramic disc brakes. The rest of the car remains under wraps until the big unveiling next week.

A short release accompanying the second image confirms that the new Bentley Supersports will be subject to a “limited production run”, although it’s not clear at this stage how many will be built. The Continental-based two-door will be only the fourth model in Bentley’s history to use the Supersports name.

No information has been issued on what might power this new model, but Bentley has confirmed that it will be the “first rear-wheel-drive Continental GT” ever. With the W12 dead, and the V8 now only available with a plug-in hybrid module attached, this new model is expected to offer a more old-school solution. 

Expect to see a highly strung iteration of the twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine without its hybrid components. A lower-spec 542bhp version of this engine had been used in this generation of Continental for years, but the more expensive 12-cylinder above always capped its ultimate power figure. The engine will be connected to an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Other models that run on the Bentley’s MSB platform, such as the previous-generation Porsche Panamera Turbo S, are capable of producing up to 631bhp with this engine. This could give us a pointer as to the potential power figure of the new Supersports. 

We don’t have any more information at this stage, but expect the new flagship to be the most expensive two-door Bentley Continental in the range, with a price point likely to start close to £300,000. It’ll be revealed on 14 November at 01:30 GMT.

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