Bentley Motors Ltd.; which boasts of a customer base that includes Queen Elizabeth II as well as the Sultan of Brunei; is expected to expand its lineup by coming up with a new sports-utility vehicle in order to fulfill their appetite of having bigger luxury models. This was disclosed by two very revered sources in the auto market.
The CEO of Bentley Wolfgang Duerheimer, who during his tenure as the development chief in Porsche took charge of pushing the sports-car manufacturers into the SUV segment in 2002, now wants that the 92 years old British car manufacturer create an off-road model. He has already started discussions on this line with executives of the parent Volkswagen AG; qouted sources on the condition of anonymity as they were disclosing a very private matter.
Bentley, which has curved a branding as a manufacturer of lucurious, large sedans, wants to breaks out of this stereotyped image and hence has ideas open for expanding, feel analysts. They also point out that Bentley would be able to get a pricing of around 120,000 euros for their SUV, as they might have been able to identify the prospective lists of customers who are willing to shell out such huge amounts for a luxury SUV.
Porsche AG, which had been renowned across the world for its expertise in manufacturing sports cars, depends these days on the SUV Cayenne for 50% of its fleet volume and is on lines to introduce a secon vehicle in this segment.
Even Jaguar Land Rover is visualizing a cross over vehicle whereas Aston Martin has not ruled out launching a vehicle in the SUV segment too.
With a growing market in Asia for the SUV segment of vehicles, China being regarded as the most growing market in this segment, it has seen the launch of the vehicle by most automakers in this market.
Bentley Motors Ltd. does not seem to be towing a different line either, they also want to have their presence felt in the Cinese market. Also, with the market dynamics of China being vey much similar to the Indian market, it is a matter of time that Bentley also decides to explore the emerging market in India as well.
