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Bentley in drive towards diesel power
Monday 14th February 2011, 2:07PM GMT.
Fuel guzzler - the Bentley Mulsanne
Bentley is considering launching a diesel for the first time in its 92-year history.
The British car maker’s luxury vehicles are famed for their performance but are notorious gas guzzlers.
The average mile-per-gallon figure for its current cars, ranging from the £135,000 Continental to the £230,000 Mulsanne, is just 17mpg on the combined cycle — and now the firm is taking steps to improve this figure.
It was previously said that wealthy Bentley owners were “not interested” in economic diesel engines, but Ferdinand Piech, the chairman of the VW group which owns the brand, said: “You will see diesels at Bentley.”
At the recent Qatar Motor Show, one of the most important showcases for top-of-the-range manufacturers in the Middle East, Mr Piech confirmed the company was working on a project to give at least some of its range diesel power.
The Crewe-based firm has been looking to improve its environmental performance for some time. Three years ago, at the Geneva Motor Show, Bentley pledged to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 15 per cent and improve its fuel consumption by 40 per cent — both by 2012.
But no indication was given at the time that a diesel engine was under consideration. The firm was thought to be more interested in making its engines capable of running on biofuel as well as petrol.
Bentley recently launched the updated Mulsanne prestige car with a petrol V8 engine — but fuel consumption can be as low as single figures when it is being driven round town.
While it has previously not been interested in moving from petrol to diesel, Bentley now believes the addition of a diesel could boost sales in Europe as well as improve economy and reduce emissions.
Diesel engines are more popular on the continent than petrols and sales of ‘oil burners’ recently eclipsed petrol engine sales in the UK too
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