Capping a year of extraordinary firsts from Bentley — a string of brand-burnishing items that includes a 205-MPH tweedy convertible Continental GT Speed, a Bentayga for the Moscow pointe shoe set and a residential high rise on the Florida coast — comes news of the longest Bentley SUV to come down the pike. For 2023, the Bentley Bentayga will be offered in an extended wheelbase version, which nearly turns the model into a limousine.
To become a long-wheelbase Bentayga, the model grows by 7.1 inches. Bentley wanted the sense of space to be used across several marketing dimensions, however, and so how space is perceived in the context of the Bentayga Extended Wheelbase is paramount. When the company indicates that ‘wellness’ is among the foci of the variant, they are leading the consumer to imagine it as a rolling spa: ‘advanced postural adjustment’ seats with climate-sensing temperature compensation, the ‘softest lofted quilting to date’ and door trim that features ‘lighting through handcrafted leather’. Hmmm.
Bentley states that the additional length is ‘all in the rear door’, enlarging the cargo area but also increasing space for individual seats, allowing for a ‘Relax’ seating mode that reclines to a 40-degree angle as a footrest moves into position. A ‘Business’ seating mode, on the other hand, moves the occupant into a less relaxing position, while a ‘VIP’ mode pushes the front passenger seat ahead so the rear passenger has more room. Some 177-point pressure adjustments can be made over a three hour stretch, making longer voyages more comfortable. If the entry-level Bentayga is an ultimate suburban daily driver, the Bentayga EWB is Bentley’s new ultimate tourer.
For tech, the variant features ‘Bentley Dynamic Ride’ as standard, and introduces ‘Electronic All Wheel Steering’ to eliminate any performance disparities between short- and long-wheelbase versions of the model. The variant is powered by Bentley’s 4.0L V8 biturbo, which in this case makes 550 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque.
The 2023 Bentayga Extended Wheelbase is expected in dealerships in the last quarter of this year.
