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You'd think that lobbing four cylinders off a car's engine would have an adverse effect on its performance, right? But Bentley is out to show that its new Continental GT with the V8 engine can fly every bit as much as the W-12 model. And by fly, we do mean fly.
Not only is the updated 2013 twelve-cylinder model 55 pounds lighter than the one it replaces, but the eight-cylinder model is lighter still. That helps the V8 achieve 40-percent better fuel economy, while still delivering 500 horsepower – 131 hp shy of the W12 – for a 4.6-second sprint to 60.
Press Release:
(Crewe/Munich. 10 February, 2012) Bentley Motors celebrated the arrival of its new 4.0 litre V8 Continental GT coupe in Germany with a sensational flying debut above downtown Munich.
Anyone struggling through the rush hour would have seen the bright red Bentley taking a dramatic short-cut, suspended beneath a helicopter, to beat the traffic jams and arrive at a specially-designed podium at the summit of a high rise complex close to Munich's city centre. The fashionable SkyLounge – positioned in a glazed bridge between two skyscrapers – was the venue for an exclusive Bentley Continental V8 launch party for 300 VIP guests.
Klaus Becker, General Manager of Bentley Munich, who organised the show-stopping helicopter lift commented:
"A dramatic car got the debut we felt it deserved and we took a little bit of our inspiration from Bentley's iconic 'Winged B' emblem. On a practical level the helicopter was the fastest way to get to the rooftop podium."
