The Bentley Bentayga EWB (Extended Wheelbase) is the luxury marque’s latest flagship SUV model. Built upon the second-generation Bentayga, it gets a wheelbase and rear cabin extended by an additional 180 millimetres.
The Bentayga entered the luxury SUV segment in 2015 and has since been the bestselling model for Bentley. The introduction of the Bentley Bentayga Extended Wheelbase now extends the latest product range to six models. The Bentayga EWB is the result of a nine-figure investment by Bentley to create a new model that will provide the best rear cabin experience since the Mulsanne, while retaining the hallmark performance, craftsmanship and endless personalisation.
Bentley’s design team ensured the lines and proportions continue to emanate flair and presence with Body-in-White revisions to the underfloor, side panels, door and roof. The result is an increase in the wheelbase of the car stretching from 2,995 mm to 3,175 mm, with an overall length of 5,322 mm. The increased length is all in the rear door, with the back seat area taking up all of that extra space, with options for four, four-plus-one and a five-seat configuration that can be folded, as well as Airline Seats that recline up to 40 degrees, and gets a heated adjustable footrest. The Bentley Bentayga EWB also receives the world’s first auto climate and advanced postural adjustment seat technology.
The new Airline Seat Specification offers 22 ways of adjustment, a new auto climate sensing system and postural adjustment technology. In Relax mode, the seat can recline to 40 degrees, whilst the passenger seat is motored forwards and a leather-trimmed footrest deploys from the back of the front passenger seat. In Business Mode, the seat moves into its most upright position to make working on the move more comfortable.
The new auto climate seat technology on the Bentley Bentayga EWB senses occupant temperature and surface humidity and then determines whether to apply heat, ventilation or both simultaneously to keep the occupant at optimum thermal well-being. Meanwhile, the postural adjustment system automatically makes micro adjustments to the occupant’s seating position and pressure points, by measuring pressure across the seat surface. The system can apply 177 individual pressure changes across six fully independent pressure zones over a three-hour period.
The Bentley Bentayga EWB also gets some new features such as the Bentley Diamond Illumination, where light is emitted through small perforations in the soft feel door trim, a new style of diamond quilting for the company’s leather trim as well as heated door and centre armrests. Another first for the Bentayga is an electronic all-wheel steering that ensures there is no shortfall of dynamic ability despite the longer wheelbase. In fact, the turning circle is seven per cent lower than a standard Bentayga, at just 11.8 metres.
Mechanically, Bentley haven’t changed much in the Bentayga EWB, as it uses the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine that produces 550 hp and 770 Nm. The Bentley Bentayga EWB has the same suspension, all-wheel drive, and eight-speed transmission as the normal model, as well as the same 48-volt electrical system for controlling the active anti-roll bars.
Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and Chief Executive of Bentley Motors, commented: ‘The Bentayga Extended Wheelbase is our first car truly dedicated to the onboard wellness of its occupants. Every Bentley gets you to your destination feeling more relaxed than when you started your journey, and yet with the Extended Wheelbase we have been able to go even further thanks to the adoption of world-first wellness technology embedded within our unrivalled interior cabin design. In combination with the incredible skills of the craftspeople at our carbon-neutral factory in Crewe, these advances make the Bentayga Extended Wheelbase the ultimate luxury SUV to drive or be driven in.’
Story: Alshin Thomas
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