Put a little 'B' in your diary on August 16th, because that's the date Bentley will unveil its first entirely new model since 2003's Continental GT. This will take place at the Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance in California.
All we really know about the newcomer is what Bentley has shown us in a teaser video, which you can see below, although the Crewe maker has dropped a couple of hints. For a start, it will apparently capture the 'grand touring' spirit of the original Bentleys of the 1920s and it will be hand crafted in Crewe.
We can see from the video that it's a four-door and appears to have an unusual 'pontoon' type nose. Based on Bentley's lyrical waxing, we expect this to be an extremely fast, refined and luxurious saloon. At the moment it's simply called the 'grand Bentley' but its name will be revealed when the car is.
We can only speculate what it will be powered by, but expect a big capacity twelve-cylinder unit, most likely utilising the W12 block already found in the Continental. Turbocharged, perhaps? We'll find out soon enough, but if we get any more information in the meantime, you'll be the first to know.
Mark Nichol - 8 Jul 2009