The third-generation Bentley Continental GT is making its rounds in the American car magazines. For example, a story in Car and Driver (Lorio, 2018) has a large photo gallery that shows how styling changes are refreshingly evolutionary and understated compared to many high-priced cars of late. Even so, I found myself underwhelmed by the new design.
The 2019 Continental GT doesn’t strike me as looking better than previous models — particularly compared to the timeless design of the first generation. Most of the new Bentley’s stylistic differences could be classified as gimmicky, such as the addition of lower-fender air scopes and distinct sheetmetal curvature around the outboard front turn signals. Meanwhile, a new horizontal taillight treatment may look sportier, but it also comes across as more generic.
Why did Bentley even bother? Presumably because industry groupthink holds that a restyling was desperately needed — the basic look has been in production since 2003 (Wikipedia, 2018). That’s positively ancient in an era where four-year product cycles are common.
To be fair, one could argue that the Bentley was old enough that it needed to up its game mechanically. The new Continental is apparently chock full of improvements (Lorio, 2018). That includes better handling, which may have been one result of switching the car from the old Volkswagen Phaeton’s platform to the Porsche Panamerica’s.
So perhaps in this case I shouldn’t complain about stylistic change for the sake of change. But it also might be worth remembering that once upon a time the high-priced car market had some of the longest product cycles in the industry. As a case in point, the Porsche 911’s basic body was used for more than three decades. Granted, this was partly out of financial necessity for small-scale automakers, but it worked. Timeless designs could get away with sticking around a lot longer.
The consolidation of the global automobile industry has mostly put an end to this, in much the same way that it has reduced brand distinctiveness. The new Bentley is better because it’s more like a Porsche. How lucky for us.
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RE:SOURCES
- Lorio, Joe; 2018. “2019 Bentley Continental GT: An idealized version of its former self.” Car and Driver. Posted May 11; accessed May 20.
- Wikipedia; 2018. “Bentley Continental GT.” Accessed May 20.
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