Bentley targets Middle East

BENTLEY has whipped the covers off a special-edition Continental Flying Spur sedan built specifically for the Middle East, which now accounts for 10 per cent of global sales for the Volkswagen-owned British luxury brand.

Just 50 examples of the ‘Flying Spur Arabia’ and ‘Flying Spur Speed Arabia’ will be produced exclusively for Arabic customers through Bentley’s nine Middle East dealers in Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jeddah, Riyadh and Al Khobar.

Applied to the five-year-old Flying Spur sedan and its high-performance Speed derivative, which Bentley claims is the world’s fastest four-door luxury saloon, are a range of subtle interior and exterior extras including unique ‘Arabia’ badging on the front bumper, side tread plates and ashtray lid.

There is also an exclusive 14-spoke diamond alloy wheel for the standard Arabia model and 20-inch 10-spoke bright silver alloys for the Speed Arabia, which are compatible with the four-door Continental’s optional carbon-ceramic brakes.

There is no change to the twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre W12 engine that powers Bentley’s entire Continental range, with the standard Arabia continuing to offer an enviable 412kW and 650Nm of torque and the Speed Arabia outputting some 449kW and 750Nm – enough to propel it to 100km/h in just 4.8 seconds and a top speed of no less than 322km/h.

As with all Flying Spurs, both Arabia models will come standard with ventilated and fluted seats, veneered rear picnic tables with vanity mirrors, chromed door inlays and plush-pile carpet mats with hide trimming.

On top of high-tech options like radar-based adaptive cruise control with ‘follow to stop’ function, a rear-view camera, front and rear privacy phone handsets and iPod infotainment interface, there is also a bright-chrome fuel filler cap with ‘B’ badge and all Flying Spurs come with an additional valet key that starts the vehicle but doesn’t allow access to the boot or glovebox.

Bentley’s Asia and Middle East regional director Geoff Dowding said the Crewe-built Arabia models represented a renewed commitment to the Middle East market, which has doubled its share of Bentley’s total sales in the past five years.

“We have created these exclusive new models for our Arabic customers in recognition of the growing importance of these influential customers,” he said.

“Bentley has a long and proud tradition of being able to design, engineer and personalise our cars to the individual styling and driving tastes of our customers and these special-edition Bentleys showcase these skills for the Middle East market.”