Bentley: We will overcome resistance to diesel engines

Bentley Diesel Engine - Bentley boss says it will happen

We’re the first to admit that we are recent converts to the joys of a powerful diesel engine. But a Bentley Diesel seems perhaps a step too far. But according to Bentley boss, Wolfgang Durheimer, it’s not.

Herr Durheimer is a Porsche man and has taken over from Frank-Josef Paefgen who is on record as saying that diesel engines and Bentley would not happen, if for no other reason than that Americans – a big market for Bentley – don’t ‘get’ the diesel. But a new broom – and a rapidly changing US point of view – means a diesel Bentley is firmly back on the cards.

Herr Durheimer has been telling WhatCar that he believes diesel engines are good enough for Bentleys and that he will overcome resistance within Bentley to putting an oil burning lump in a Bentley road car. And, on balance, we think he’s probably right.

He’s right because diesel engines can now offer power and performance which – although delivered in a different way – is the equal to a petrol lump. That the power is also accompanied in a diesel by enormous lumps of torque, something desirable Bentleys have always offered, is a bonus.

That Bentley are now going to pursue a market no one is even sure exists by building a £150k Bentley SUV probably has some bearing on the diesel issue, as does the increasing acceptance of diesel engines in the US. And there is, of course, a diesel engine in the VW group just crying out to be Bentley-ised and shoved in a big Bentley SUV – or even a Continental GT (but please, never a Mulsanne).

Audi’s huge 5.9 litre V12 diesel, which saw service for a while in the Q7, would be a great starting point for Bentley. With 500 horses and 740 torques it already has fifty per cent more torque than the current w12, and almost as many horses. With a bit of fettling and tweaking we’re sure that torque figure would easily break the 900lbs/ft barrier and power approach 600bhp.

That would make a diesel-powered Continental GT quicker off the line than its W12 siblings and endow any Bentley SUV with performance to rival the best of the off-roaders, and with enough torque to uproot ancient oaks.

And in case you find all this sacrilege (which, we have to confess, a small part of us does too), Herr Durheimer also says that Bentley should become VW Group’s centre for 12-cylinder engines. Which is very good news indeed.

Because we thought the launch of the V8 in the Continental GT was sounding the eventual death knell for the W12.

By Cars UK