GRR

How do you make the Bentley EXP even prettier? Lop its top off!

07th March 2017
Ben Miles

When Bentley's stunning EXP 10 Speed 6 blasted its way into the world at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show we weren't sure that there could be anything more pleasing to look at on the horizon from our friends up in Crewe. Turns out we were wrong.

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Launched freshly for the Geneva Motor Show is this: the EXP 12 Speed 6e – an all-electric, convertible version of the Speed 6 (a car already rumoured to be heading for production), a car that somehow manages to make the beautiful EXP concept even better looking.

Bentley say the Speed 6e will gauge customer reaction to the brand's potential future design direction (which if it looks like this, has to be positive), as well as revealing that Bentley is committed to adding electric power to its range in the near future. And it's an ambitious future, with Bentley expecting their production electric vehicle to manage the trip from London to Milan on a single charge.

As with the EXP 10 concept, the 6e also reveals an incredible interior, with a stunning centre-console hewn from a single piece of glass for the driver, and a separate system with which the passenger can entertain themselves. The oddly-shaped steering wheel contains glass panels instead of control buttons, while the stumps atop the truncated 'wheel' contain buttons for a power boost and speed limiter.

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Outside it's very EXP 10, but the 6e sheds its exterior wing mirrors, replacing them with rear-facing cameras and, given the lack of need, it also loses the large exhausts that were set into the 10's sculpted posterior.

Bentley's conversion to electricity is set to begin next year when the first plug-in Bentaygas arrive in the world, followed in the future by that all-electric car. If it looks anything like the EXP12 Speed 6e then we are very very excited.

  • Bentley

  • EXP 12 Speed 6e

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