Bentley launches world's fastest SUV 'Bentayga' in India priced at Rs 3.85 crore

India is one of the hottest market for sports utility vehicles or SUVs, with sales of over 585,000 units. The rage has prompted even the uber luxury players to prop into the bandwagon with Bentley's first ever SUV, the Bentayga, hitting the Indian market at Rs 3.85 crore (ex-showroom).

SUV has been quite a hot segment for the off-road-crazy Indian customers. They are often seen on regular roads, thanks to the potholes and the ever persistent water logging, but now the rhythm has hit the top-end of the market.

Bentley importer Satya Bangla claims that the 6-litre twin-turbocharged V12 8-speed automatic Bentayga is sold-out for 2016. "We are in fact booking cars for 2017. We have exhausted our allocations from the parent this year and all cars have been sold to our existing customers," he told Business Today.

Another reason for the success of this segment is the limited number of units available for sales. Bentayga does not have a direct competitor at that price as other options like the Porsches or Land Rovers are many notches below in pricing and specifications.

India is now home to around 200-250 super luxury cars of over Rs 3 crore, a stark contrast to China's around 5,000 cars every year. Though India has been on the upswing, it is expected to take a couple of years to double the size of new cars to around 500 per year. "There is strong demand but eventually the market is not expanding as expected. We are looking at new customers, but most prime sectors like real estate, infra or corporate are not showing any great signs of recovery," Bagla added.

Other premium carmakers like Mercedes-Benz or Audi have been maintaining consistent sales through the eventual result of high discounting. Other prevalent players like Tata Motors-owned Jaguar & Land Rover and BMW have not witnessed any buoyant sales in the past two years.

Nevertheless, the potential of the world's fifth-largest car market is still highlighted by ultra-luxury makers queuing up to reap the potential even as the European market remains sluggish and world's largest car market China also softening on the super-luxury automobile segment brands like Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari and Lamborghini.

The addition of SUVs to the market is likely to propel demand with some new affluent customers not hesitating to spend extravagantly on fresh options and upgrades with India's economic growth still bypassing the entire world and its car market posted the highest growth of 7.24 per cent in the past five years.

Specs:
Engine: 6.0 litre twin-turbocharged W12
Power: 600 bhp / 447 kW / 608 PS @ 5250 rpm
Torque: 900 Nm / 664 lb.ft @ 1250-4500 rpm
Transmission: 8-speed Automatic
Max Speed: 187 mph / 301 km/h
Acceleration: 0 - 60 mph 4.0 secs
Price: Rs 3.85 crore onwards (ex-showroom Delhi)