Bentley at the London motor show 2008

Bentley Flying Spur Speed: one of the world debuts at London

By James Foxall

Motor Shows

23 July 2008 14:04

Along with Seat, Bentley was the only member of the VW Group in evidence at Excel – and there was a world debut in the fulsome shape of the new Flying Spur Speed.

What’s new on Bentley’s London motor show stand?

Errrr, not very much actually. In fact there wasn’t very much of anything on the luxury brand’s stand with just four cars on display. However, it does give showgoers the chance to get a first glimpse of the world’s fastest saloon, the Flying Spur Speed. And for the extremely rich here was also an Azure and a Continental GT Speed.

CAR’s Bentley highlight

The Flying Spur Speed might not look particularly dramatic but it’s an awesome piece of kit. However, the bit on the stand that got our anorak zipping was the glass encased brake disc and calliper showing how awesomely large these components have to be to stop 2350kg of luxury metal. Don't miss it.

What were they thinking?

With no rivals in the shape of Rolls-Royce at Excel, you’d have thought Bentley would have chosen to make hay while the sun shone. Instead its stand was so classily understated it was easy to miss.

In a nutshell

Opportunity knocked and they chose not to answer. Great to have a world debut on home turf, though.

Click here to go to CAR's London motor show A-Z homepage

By James Foxall