2025 Bentley Continental GT Speed Goes 208 MPH on Hybrid Power

• Bentley will bring a new Continental GT Speed in both coupe and convertible form to US showrooms early next year.

• The big news is the new plug-in hybrid drivetrain, making 771 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque. That’s 121 hp and 74 lb ft more than the most recent W12.

• Pricing ain’t cheap: $302,100 for the coupe and $332,200 for the convertible.

It’s one thing to pick the right car for driving over alpine passes. There are many of those: McLarens, Ferraris, Porsches, for instance. But what if you want to drive all the way across Europe, along Autostradas, Autoroutes, and Autobahns, in addition to those Alpine passes? Then you need something else entirely.

In the latter case you might be happiest with a Bentley Continental GT Speed. It does both.

Bentley will bring its new Continental GT Speed to the US starting early next year, with a new 4.0-liter plug-in hybrid V8 all-wheel-drive powertrain and a revised exterior to go with its more comfortable and connected interior. The setup is just sporty enough to get you up and over the Stelvio Pass but also plush enough to make you glad you drove instead of flying or taking the train.

I know this because I just spent a day crisscrossing alpine passes in and around Andermatt, Switzerland, driving a brace of Bentley Continental GT Speeds. The route included: Susten Pass, Grimsel Pass, Nufenen Pass, Gotthard Pass, and one other pass I did without adult supervision the name of which I didn’t write down.

Most European alpine passes consist of a series of zig-zagging straight chutes connected by first-gear hairpin turns. You could argue that a winding Appalachian mountain road that winds on for miles and miles is more fun to drive than the typical short-burst Alpen mountain pass, but we’ll discuss that some other time. The GT Speeds loved the short straights and did well enough in the hairpin turns to warrant the GT badge in its name.

Sure, in those abbreviated stretches of pass I would have had more fun in a McLaren 750S, Ferrari 296 GTB, or a Porsche 911 S/T, but then, there were also long driving stretches that didn’t involve crazy tight turns. For my Swiss francs I was secretly happy to be in a Bentley.

This one has a lot of new features. Take, for instance, that PHEV powertrain. The VW-owned era of the Bentley Continental began in 2021 with Ferdinand Piech’s own mighty and complex W12 engine under the hood. The second-gen Conti added the option of a V8. By the third gen you could still get a V8, and the Continental GT’s W12 was making 626 hp.

Now Bentley is sort of implying the fourth generation is significantly new, citing “68% new parts.” But the basic chassis may be largely carryover. It was hard to get anyone to say yes or no on that point. Regardless, it gets a new PHEV similar to the one shared with its stablemates the Porsche Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid and Lamborghini Urus SE.

This V8 hybrid has a combined system output of 771 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque, 121 more hp and 74 more lb-ft of torque than the W12. A power and torque graph showed that the new hybrid outpowered and out-torqued the W12 at every point in the rev range. It also gets the new Bentley to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds, 0.4 seconds quicker than the W12. Top speed, for those who live near an autobahn, is the same at 208 mph.

The plug-in hybrid is fed from a 25.9-kWh battery that helps bump curb weight of the craft up to 5,421 pounds, or 365 pounds more than the previous model. Add another 390 pounds to that figure if you get the GTC convertible model, which will be available at launch, and which I also drove to much satisfaction.

Power and torque go through an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic and thence to all four wheels. A rear electronic limited-slip differential can send torque to inboard or outboard wheels for better grip, as necessary. Tires are low-profile Pirelli P-Zeros: 275/35ZR-22s front and 315/30ZR-22s rear.

Did it work? I was driving on skinny roads that sometimes had guardrails and sometimes didn’t, and every time you came around one of those hairpin corners—or so it seemed—there would be a kamikaze bus driver or dump truck operator coming the opposite direction that really got your attention. So what I’m saying is, I couldn’t necessarily vouch for Bentley’s claim that, with the new battery pack stuffed in the rear, the weight distribution of this new GT is supposed to be 51% rear, 49% front.

If true, that suggests it should be nicely balanced if you ever find yourself on a racetrack, autocross, or anywhere else you might want to push it to its limits. An earlier press trip to drive pre-production prototypes on a race track yielded positive reviews. So consider that.

For those not racing in the DTM, which is to say everyone, the interior is about as comfortable as anything short of a Rolls-Royce or a Maybach. Bentley says there are 46 billion possible configurations for the car. Yes, the b, not the m. Go to the configurator and have at it. There’s even 3D leather on the door panels, which is a raised diamond pattern. The seats can massage you for three hours. One button flips the center display around to your choice of three facades: analog, fully digital, and nothing but wood grain.

Troubles? My cars both had trouble staying connected to Apple CarPlay. I was told it’s better to use the cable. Also, the heated neck blower worked intermittently in the convertible. Both are quality problems you shouldn’t expect in a car that costs $302,100 for the coupe and $332,200 for the GTC convertible (both prices before delivery).

Is the Continental GT in coupe or convertible form the right luxu-coupe for you? It is the most luxurious of the competition without giving up all of its sporty pretense. You could consider an Aston Martin DB12 or Vantage, or an AMG GT, Maserati Gran Turismo or even a BMW 8-Series Coupe as competitors. But all of those have less room inside, less useable rear seats, and may be more inclined to sportier rides than the real smoothness afforded by the Bentley’s Dynamic Ride 48-volt anti-roll bars (that leave enough roll in to feel real) and dual-valve dampers and dual-chamber air springs that soak up bumps like four-wheeled sponges. The GTs feel in control without wallowing yet allow enough real feel to come through that you’ll notice the difference from an AMG product.

If you are ready for a car that prioritizes your well-being just barely ahead of your love for hitting apexes, pick the Bentley.