Bentley: Extreme state of play

The Bentley Continental Supersport blends luxury and performance. Photo / Supplied

Unlike new variants of production cars, Bentley's Supersport wasn't planned. It came, according to Bentley's head of exterior design Raul Pires, after the company's engineers began playing around.

As they were developing the Continental range, "the designers over-engineered, then we made a judgment call," Pires says. "We realised we could make an extreme Bentley."

Pires says the engineers worked on weight saving and technical changes, and it all went from there.

It sounds amazingly casual, but petrol just leaks from Bentley folk, they can't help themselves. So those engineers gave Pires a play in their altered GT to get the feel of it and he got to work, his changes largely mandated by technical tweaks to the standard Continental GT.

"A car is never too wide or too low," Pires says, pointing out the wider rear arches to accommodate a 50mm increase in track and beefier wheels. They underline the greater rear-drive bias - the torque split for the four-wheel-drive system now 40:60 front to rear.

The new front bumper gets larger cooling apertures and there's a wider exhaust, a reshaped rear valance - and a lower stance.

"We didn't want the car to look like a DTM racer but we had to hit the right blend of performance and luxury," Pires said. Thus the spoiler tucked subtly at the bottom of the rear window; the changes to the brightwork, now a dark metallic hue to enhance the sporty finish. This coating is effective but was difficult to achieve. "The technique comes from the jewellery industry," Pires says.

"This is the most driver-oriented Bentley," he says. "Most people here are car nuts, and this is an exciting product to have - there are no holds barred."

Certainly there are no holds barred in the cabin or engine. You sit lower down, snuggled into new wrap-around bucket seats facing the carbon fibre detailing in place of wood, with a massive brace just behind you. The steering wheel is covered in a specially developed suede-like leather to offer better grip.

This car is 110kg lighter, the bulk of the saving obtained by replacing the front seats and removing the rears. The weight has shifted forward slightly, making this powerful car that exciting smidge more tail-happy.

It'd be a handful - the 463kW/800Nm, $475,000 Supersports is the fastest Bentley ever, hitting 100 from rest in 3.9 seconds - yet it's also as eco-friendly as such an extreme car gets, as it's able to run on biofuel.

Bentley's take on a "clean, green" supercar arrives in New Zealand from the end of January.