Bentley to show SUV concept

Bentley is staying the course with the company’s EXP 9 F SUV Concept. The ultra-luxury automaker plans to bring the vehicle to the Beijing Motor Show exactly as it appeared at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, despite the fact that the concept didn’t exactly debut to resounding acclaim. Critics described the design as awkward and unbecoming of nameplate like Bentley, but the automaker says it wants to vet the design in as many markets as possible before finalizing the exterior. Here’s hoping the crowds in China are as repulsed as those in Switzerland.

The EXP 9 F has already been green-lit for production, and while we have no qualm with the thought of a high-riding luxury brute with a twin-turbo 12-cylinder engine under the hood, we’d like to see something a little less muddled outside. Bentley says an SUV will give the company a leg up in markets like the Middle East and China, where luxury SUVs remain king. Through the first two months of this year, the company’s sales are up 66 percent in China, putting the country ahead of the United States as the largest market for Bentley products.