8:42 am, July 23, 2013
BENTLEY has confirmed it has given its SUV project the green light.
The British marque says it gave the go-ahead after it received ‘extremely positive customer response in the last 16 months’ to the programme and has revealed the car will go on sale in 2016.
The SUV will be made in Crewe and will create more than 1000 jobs in the UK. Over the next three years Bentley will invest more than £800m in its headquarters at Crewe and the development of new models.
Details are pretty sketchy at the present but it is thought the SUV will not take the look of the EXP F 9 Concept (pictured) first shown at the Geneva Motor Show in 2012.
But the firm has said the ‘styling will set it apart from any other SUV on the road and will be true to the Bentley design DNA. ‘It will be the most luxurious and most powerful SUV in the market.’
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said: ‘This £800m investment and a thousand new jobs from Bentley is fantastic news for both Crewe and for the UK as a whole. It is another important milestone in strengthening our economy.
‘One sector that we know is sprinting ahead in the global race is our booming automotive industry. One vehicle rolls off a production line somewhere in the UK every 20 seconds and we have just launched the Government’s Automotive Industrial Strategy to help continue this success for years to come.’
Dr Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the board of Volkswagen Group, added: ‘I am delighted that Bentley will be building their new vehicle here, not only creating a thousand jobs, but safeguarding many more, as well as increasing training opportunities for highly skilled apprentices.’
