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Bentley Continental Supersports E85 biofuel (2009): first official pictures

By Tim Pollard

First Official Pictures

25 February 2009 00:01

We’ve been hearing for some time about greener Bentleys – and today we see the first concrete proof. But rather than some battery-powered eco-weeny, Crewe has thrown a curveball by unveiling its most powerful and fastest production car ever: the new Bentley Continental Supersports.

Reviving a name from Bentley’s 1920s history books, the Supersports packs a wholesome 621bhp from its 6.0-litre W12. So far, so stock Bentley. The trick is in the fuel – the Supersports can run on E85 biofuels, making it theoretically much, much cleaner than conventional fossil-fuel powered cars. Crewe is taking an holistic view from well-to-wheel and this Geneva show star is the first in a series of greener Bentleys, marking a sea change as this most traditional of luxury car makers seeks to chop its fleet CO2 emissions by 40% in the next three years.

Bentley Continental Supersports: the raw figures

This is one stonkingly fast Bentley. It’ll thunder to 60mph in 3.7sec and hit a rather alcoholic 204mph top speed, meaning this flex-fuel coupe eclipses its Continental Speed siblings for outright performance. Ten percent more air is rammed into the twin-turbo W12, channeled through bigger scoops on bonnet and bumper to liberate more ponies.

Extra performance isn’t just achieved through ECU jiggery-pokery, though. The Supersports is a handy 110kg lighter than the Conti Speed; the project’s roots were in a skunkworks project to strip weight out of the remarkably porky Continental family and the Supersports has had the full 10 Years Younger treatment.

Enabling those startling performance claims is a retuned Quickshift transmission that halves shift times, while the rear-biased four-wheel drive and stability systems have been recalibrated to cope with the extra thust on offer.

So how green is this new Bentley?

The $64 million question. We’d wager the CAR message boards will light up the moment this story is published. Biofuels have their detractors, but it’s worth studying Bentley’s claims for the Supersports. It quotes a 70% cut in CO2 emissions from well-to-wheel, which is more impressive than the 17.3mpg combined average and 388g/km at the tailpipe sound at face value.

So this launch is significant. Bentley aims to make its entire range biofuels compatible by 2012, and E85-style fuels are a quick fix for a brand lumbered with large, luxurious cars which produce high levels of carbon dioxide. In a revealing interview in the new April 2009 issue of CAR Magazine, Bentley chief exec Franz-Josef Paefgen confirmed to us that the company is actively tapping into VW Group fuels tech and is exploring plug-in hybrids, diesels and even fuel-cells for future models – but these all pose huge engineering challenges for a low-volume maker and would take years to reach fruition.

Which leaves us with the suspicion that the Supersports will be bought by people wanting the ultimate Bentley, more than wealthy types wanting to save the planet. The joy of flex-fuel cars is you can take or leave their green credentials in everyday driving – but hog the fanfare for your eco statement of intent...

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