Bentley’s Supersports badge is making a comeback next week (14 Nov) with a limited-edition Continental GT that swaps all-wheel drive for rear-wheel drive and gets a serious weight cut. It’ll run their V8 engine, tuned to deliver more than 640 hp (477kW).
The fourth-generation Supersports will debut in New York in the early hours of Friday morning. Rumours have been swirling for months after prototypes were spotted testing, sporting a huge rear spoiler and quad exhausts that made its performance intent clear.
While the test mule kept mostly standard bodywork, insiders say the production version, due later this year, will feature a much more aggressive design compared with the recently updated Continental GT.
This new Continental Supersports aims to highlight Bentley’s unique dual identity, which is the ability to blend pure luxury, as seen with the EXP 15 concept, with serious performance. CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser has already hinted at “more extreme” cars to reinforce their sporting roots, and this will be the first of several to follow.
Since the brand’s iconic W12 is now retired, the new Supersports will rely on a twin-turbo V8. It won’t match the outright figures of the hybrid GT Speed, which makes 771 hp (575 kW), but by shedding significant weight, it should deliver purer, sharper performance.
The Supersports keeps the GT Speed’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, reportedly tuned up from 592 hp (441 kW) to around 640 hp (477 kW). The 188bhp (140kW) electric motor from the hybrid system is gone, and so is all-wheel drive.
Weight reduction is the big story here. Engineers in Crewe have cut mass by an estimated 450kg, bringing it down to roughly 2000kg from the GT Speed’s 2459kg, which makes it the lightest Bentley in decades.
Dropping the plug-in hybrid setup accounts for much of that savings, but there’s more. Carbon fibre body panels, including the roof, lightweight sports seats up front, no rear seats, and Akrapovic exhausts. Expect custom lightweight wheels and carbon-ceramic brakes, too. Weight reduction has been a Supersports hallmark before, but this one takes it further than ever.
Design-wise, the car will feature a full aerodynamic overhaul, with that large fixed rear wing from the prototypes, aggressive vents and diffusers, and new ground-effect sculpting to improve downforce and stability.
Production will be limited to a few hundred units, with every car expected to go through Bentley’s Mulliner division for bespoke touches.
The Supersports has already been previewed privately to select clients, and orders are reportedly rolling in.