Bentley Continental GTC (2011)

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Bentley Continental GTC (2011) first official pictures

By Tim Pollard

First Official Pictures

24 August 2011 00:01

Bentley has shown the convertible sister to the new Continental GT coupe: it's the new Conti GTC, due to be unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show.

The Continental GTC Mk2 is entirely in line with the latest coupe - a sophisticated, subtle update to the 2005 original. There's the same smoother front end styling, the more squinty headlamps and a more exaggerated 'power line' with incredibly sharp creases.

Bentley Continental GTC: first official pictures

Styling chief Dirk van Braeckel gave CAR a guided tour around the new Continental convertible. 'The front end is like the GT coupe's, the large headlamps set into the single piece superformed front wing,' he said. 'The radii of the surfaces along the sides are reduced by half compared with the previous model. It makes a real tension in the surfaces. The stance is wider, the tracks front and rear are stretched and we now offer 20in and 21in wheels.'

The rear deck - now fashioned from SMC composite and incorporating the aerial antenna - is longer, too, an there are new oval LED rear lamps.

And inside the new Conti GTC (2011)?

'The character is completely different inside,' van Braeckel told us. 'It's far more complex as a design. We did a lot of work on the design of the seats - the seatbelts are no longer incorporated into the seats - and there is now 36mm more rear legroom.'

The same new front seats now have 10-bag massage function to wobble your bits every which way, and they're ventilated and boast neck warmers too.

Yet despite a plethora of new gizmos, the Bentley Conti GTC is actually 70kg lighter than before, boosting performance and economy.