bentley continental gtc• Priced from £149,350
• Available to order now
• Top speed of 195mph

With only the Supersports version of the original model still on sale, Bentley has almost cleared the decks for the arrival of the second generation Bentley Continental GTC. The new luxury convertible debuts at Frankfurt today but was seen briefly at the Volkswagen group preview last night. Web Editor Adrian Higgins was there.

Bentley Continental GTC gallery:


bentley continental gtc

What is it?

You’re looking at the second generation Bentley Continental GTC, the replacement for arguably the most luxurious four-seat convertible on sale.

What’s it like?

Anybody familiar with the latest Continental GT Coupe launched last year will notice the latest Bentley GTC also inherits the LED headlamps, more upright grille and sharper styling lines. Sitting on 20-inch alloys as standard, it looks leaner and more taut than its predecessor and is 70kg lighter to prove it.

The new sculpted look suits the car better and no sooner have you see it than the first generation starts to look a little bit, well, last year. Bentley is keen for this car to be considered a sportier proposition than previously. The four-seater luxury convertible features a new, more spacious hand-crafted cabin, with soft-touch leather hides, wood veneers, cool-touch metals and deep-pile carpets.

What about the roof?

It’s a special multi-layered fabric roof that also uses special acoustic glass to reduce noise intrusion. The insulation is so good in fact, that Bentley assures its customers “you’ll believe you’re in the coupé.” Sounds like a twin test we’d like to attempt.

So are engines shared too?

Yes, the 6.0-litre, twin-turbocharged W12 remains the same as in the coupe version but the GTC now produces 567bhp (up from 552bhp), while torque is up by 37lb/ft to 516lb/ft. It also uses a new six-speed transmission – dubbed ‘Quickshift’ – which halves gearchange times to 200 milliseconds and reduces the 0-60mph sprint to just 4.5sec, 0-100mph in 10.9sec and a top speed (roof up) of 195mph.

Prices start at £149,350. Bentley also says it has sharpened the steering and retuned the suspension while its all-wheel drive system features a new 40:60 rear torque bias (compared with 50:50 of the original GTC), to minimise understeer.

The Bentley Continental GTC, priced at £149,350, is now available to order and first customer deliveries will begin in late 2011.

By Adrian Higgins, web editor