New Bentley Continental GT is a 771bhp, leather-lined missile

• New plug-in hybrid V8
• 68% new components versus outgoing model
• Continental GT Speed priced from £236,600

British luxury car maker Bentley has revealed its latest high-performance grand tourer to take on Aston Martin and Ferrari – the new Bentley Continental GT. Taking the same two-door, four-seat recipe as the old car, the engineers in Crewe have swapped out the old W12 engine in favour of a V8. While that may sound like a downgrade at first, what the Continental GT has lost in cylinders, it’s made up for with electrification – to the tune of 771bhp.

What do I need to know about the new Bentley Continental GT?

The new Continental GT isn’t actually entirely new, despite the British brand calling it the new ‘fourth-generation’ model. Underneath, it uses the same platform as the third-generation car – which also happens to be shared with the Porsche Panamera – although over two-thirds of the car’s components have been revised according to Bentley.

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For the first time in its 21-year history, Bentley has fitted the Continental GT with a hybrid system. Revealed here in ‘Speed’ guise, the new Continental GT uses a 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine alongside a 187bhp electric motor, powered by a 25.9kWh battery. The latter is big enough to enable it to travel up to 50 miles in electric-only mode, boosting efficiency and improving refinement around town. The V8 engine can charge the battery while driving, but a full top-up is best done by plugging in at home – it should take under three hours at 11kW according to Bentley.

Performance is where the biggest gains appear to have been made over the old Continental, however. A combined power output of 771bhp is around 120bhp more than the old car, and puts it exactly 100bhp ahead of its home-turf rival, the Aston Martin DB12. Thanks to four-wheel drive, it’ll launch from 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds, with the convertible GTC Speed only 0.2 behinds. That’s mightily impressive for a car weighing 2,459kg, or 2,636kg for the GTC – both more than the Bentayga SUV. Keep the accelerator pedal pinned and it won’t be long until you’re topping out at 208mph.

The styling has been given a sharp but subtle makeover, too, most noticeably at the front. The old model’s dual round headlights have been replaced by a set of oval-shaped units, influenced by the limited-run Bentley Bacalar two-seater from 2021. The tail-lights are new, too, now wider and featuring a three-dimensional diamond pattern. New bumpers and a set of new 22-inch wheels complete the visual changes.

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Bentley hasn’t fiddled with the Conti’s interior for this refresh, but then we had very little to complain about when we tested the outgoing model. There’s the same wide array of leather and trim options to choose from, but now the interior metalwork can be optioned in dark chrome for a little less bling.

How much does the new Bentley Continental cost?

The new Bentley Continental GT Speed is priced from a hefty £236,600. A regular non-Speed variant is expected to join the lineup in the future, perhaps without the new plug-in hybrid system, but we doubt you’ll see much change from £190,000.

Read our list of best fun cars for under £15,000 for a selection of slightly more down-to-earth performance cars...