World Auto News & Reviews

Autocar is reporting that Bentley buyers will be able to have their pick between two powerful iterations of the company’s forthcoming 4.0-liter, direct-injection V8. The outlet sources “well-placed figures” as saying that the meaty eight-pot will arrive in both a single-turbo configuration with 415 horsepower and as a twin-turbo beast with a more potent 555 horsepower. The move is expected to be part of the Bentley crusade to offer more than 100 horsepower per liter in the Continental GT.

At the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, outgoing CEO Franz-Josef Paefgen handed the keys to his successor, Wolfgang Durheimer. The new Bentley head now has to deal with a critical decision of developing an all-new third product line to compliment the Continental and top-of-the-line Mulsanne.

Paefgen, who led Bentley for 9 years, is leaving Bentley in a stable situation in the luxury segment but will remain a consultant to the brand.

At the 1999 Geneva Motorshow, Volkswagen Group-owned British carmaker Bentley showed a W16 powered supercar concept called the Hunaudières. It was a sleek, cab-forward design finished in British Racing Green and with more chrome than Ludacris’ Escalade.

Like so many concept cars, the Hunaudières never made it past being a one-off and Bentley consigned itself once more to making cars for wealthy Brits and Paris Hilton.

Just as Bentley is set to launch its latest Continental GT next month with an online-only gradual reveal, the luxury coachmaker has announced that Stewart McCullough will no longer be in charge of sales and marketing efforts.

The man set to replace McCullough is no stranger to Bentley, his name is Alasdair Moray Stewart, an individual who has over a decade of experience with the luxury marquee in his past, but most recently spent time with Bugatti.

We’ve been showing you spy pictures and videos of the upcoming 2011 Continental GT for quite some time now, but today Bentley launched a new microsite featuring a teaser film for the redesigned coupe that will have its online debut on September 7 and its public premiere at the Paris Motor Show at the end of the same month.

As well as confirming the Mulsanne-ish nose job with large LED inner headlamps flanked by smaller ancillary lights on each corner, the video also provides a brief glimpse of the interior and the revised center console featuring a new navigation and infotainment system. Expect similar changes for both the GTC convertible and four-door sedan members of the Continental family in the very near future.