The next-generation Bentley Continental GTC has been spotted again testing ahead of the new model's expected launch later this year. This time the prototype wears a lot less camo compared to older sightings.
The 2018 GTC convertible (and GT coupe) features new front-end styling that appears to draw from the EXP 10 Speed 6 concept first seen at the 2015 Geneva motor show - including a lower front and rear than the current car, as well as shorter overhangs and a shorter wheelbase.
Despite receiving new styling features, the Continental still carries Bentley's hallmark design, including plenty of cues from the current model. The next Continental will be based on a new platform called MSB, which has been co-developed by Bentley and Porsche. It is already in use in the new Panamera, which explains why the test mule in earlier spy pictures used a shortened Panamera bodyshell with an altered ride height and cooling to meet Bentley’s specifications.
The Continental range will be significantly lighter than the outgoing model, Bentley boss Wolfgang Dürheimer has said. Like the firm’s Bentayga SUV, the Continental’s bodyshell will be a hybrid, with assorted high-strength steels reinforcing a body made mainly from aluminium. The current car is steel-bodied.
This change is part of a mass-reduction effort that should drop the car’s weight substantially below the 2375 kg of today’s GT. However, it will not fall below two tonnes, Durheimer said. Powertrains will include the all-new 600bhp W12 that made its debut in the Bentayga and an updated 4-litre petrol V8. There will also be a petrol V6 plug-in hybrid, which will use a set-up that develops 41bhp in today’s Porsche Cayenne plug-in hybrid.
