2025 Bentley Continental Loses Cylinders, Gains Power

Bentley has already announced the retirement of the long-lived W-12 engine that has powered the upper reaches of its range for the last two decades. Now it has dropped more details of the ‘Ultra Performance’ hybrid powerplant that will replace it at the top of the range, along with some disguised images of the new Continental GT coupe that it will launch in. This will be a plug-in hybrid set to combine a peak output of 771 hp with the claim of up to 50 miles of electric-only range.

Although welcome, the news isn’t particularly surprising. Fellow Volkswagen Group subsidiary Lamborghini has already stolen Bentley’s thunder by showing what seems to be basically the same powertrain in the forthcoming Urus SE, while Porsche is also set to use it in the revised Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid. But confirmation that the plug-in Continental GT will have nearly 800 hp—accompanied by a torque peak of 737 lb-ft—is still welcomed. Those figures will ensure this is the most powerful road-going Continental yet, and not by a small amount; they represent increases of 121 hp and 73 lb-ft over the last generation W-12 powered GT Speed.

Other technical details are limited. Bentley says the new Conti will have active all-wheel drive with torque vectoring, four-wheel steering, dual-valve active dampers, and a 48-volt active anti-roll system. But we don’t have any claimed performance numbers, charging rates, or a capacity figure for the onboard battery; that 50-mile claim will be under Europe’s optimistic WLTP testing protocol.

Presuming it shares the Lamborghini’s configuration, the Bentley’s powertrain will have an electric motor sandwiched between the V-8 and the gearbox, with electrical drive therefore passing through the transmission. We also don’t yet know how much heavier the new PHEV GT will be than the retiring Continental GT V-8, but we’d bet the answer is ”substantially.” The same PHEV powertrain will move rapidly through the rest of the Bentley range, with the range set to be fully hybridized as soon as 2026.

The pictures of a disguise-wrapped Continental suggest that what is being described as the fourth generation is essentially a facelift of the outgoing third-gen; the glasshouse and roofline appear to be unchanged.

But we’ll be able to get more details soon.

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