Bentley has been gearing up to enter the luxury SUV market for some time, building on the divisive concept the automaker revealed a couple years ago and expanding its Crewe facilities, in preparation for the vehicle’s production. Today, the luxury British carmaker gives us another further glimpse into that hard work along with the name of the car: Bentayga.
This name is said by Bentley to be inspired by the Taiga snowforest that crowns the northern hemisphere, as well as the Roque Bentayga, a rock formation on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria. The exotic title is meant to evoke the dramatic beauty and spectacular views both areas offer as a reward for enduring a rugged excursion.
“Bentayga is a name that reflects what we know our SUV will do better than any other car in the world – combine the best automotive luxury with outstanding performance to take the Bentley experience to new environments,” said Wolfgang Dürheimer, Chairman and CEO of Bentley Motors.
Beyond the name, Bentley has only teased us with an image of a side vent of the SUV, shaped to look like the distinct Bentley flying “B” logo sans the wings. The brand also wanted to reaffirm that the capability of the SUV would be equal to its level of luxury, showing footage of a test mule conquering a sand dune at a 65% gradient during an extreme heat testing run.
We’ll finally get to see the much anticipated Bentayga later this year. We’ll keep a bottle of champagne in the chiller until then.