Heard a bizarre rumour about Bentley the other day, from a source that would appear to be 100 per cent watertight.
Apparently, the powers that be within the company have decided behind closed doors recently that a Bentley isn’t a proper Bentley unless it’s powered by a massive pushrod V8 – much like the massive pushrod V8 that’s been used by Bentley (and formerly by Rolls-Royce as well) pretty much since the year dot.
Read the full story on the new Bentley Continental GT and more on the new V8 engine I’m talking, of course, about the venerable 6.75-litre V8, the one that still does service beneath the long, luscious bonnet of the Brooklands – and which was due to be phased out of service on account of its failure to meet our increasingly stringent emissions targets.
Well according to my source, Bentley has become so concerned that such a large chunk of its audience will no longer be interested in the brand without the stalwart V8 somewhere in its line up, it has basically decided to build a brand new version of the pushrod V8, one that’s capable of meeting whatever emissions targets anyone would care to place in front of it. And this, reckon the bosses at Benters, will keep the brand alive for decades, perhaps centuries to come.
What my source wasn’t so sure about was the cost involved in producing a brand new engine from scratch – although he did agree that it would be considerable, to say the least.
Will it work? Only time, as they say, will tell.
