Paris Motor Show 2002 Highlights - Bentley Continental GT

Bentley Continental GT
by Sam Livingstone

This is the most significant new Bentley design in decades. The first design to emerge since Volkswagen ownership. The first to be based on a platform not derived from that of the 1960's Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. The first from its new design director Dirk van Braeckel, fresh from that other Volkswagen brand, Skoda.

Using exterior design themes that can be seen in the famous 1950s Continental Type R, the Continental GT has the hard task of moving Bentley design forward several decades in one go. The front lamps establish a Bentley facial graphic of inner lamp larger than outer lamp.

From just behind the lamps a swage line runs along and down the length of the flanks, picking up for the rear wing in a way reminiscent of the Type R. The chrome edged, B-pillarless DLO similarly echoes the shape of the Type R. The longish front overhang due to the car being based on the platform of the Volkswagen Phaeton and Audi A8, is perhaps the only rather 'un-Bentley' like feature.

Inside the interior draws upon more recent Bentley (and Rolls Royce) themes, with the vertical wooden dashboard capped in rich, thick leather. A new theme is the introduction of a prominent split between the two sides of the IP that runs into the lower centre console between the seats.

This sits on a surface lower than the elements to either side and creates a very distinctive and unique effect that clearly delineates the two sides of the cabin. This is picked up at the rear, where the two rear seats are separated by a wooden panel on a lower surface level that runs up and into the rear parcel shelf. Extensive use of chrome, wood veneer and leather are also prominent within the cabin as they have been in all post war Bentleys.

Whilst clearly a Bentley in its interior and exterior design, this car shall always be a contentious design as it has to advance a conservative brand so far and so suddenly. But as the role of this car is in many ways as a stepping stone from old age to new age Bentley, perhaps this contention is unavoidable.