Bentley EXP 9F SUV Concept to Be Reworked Before 2015 Debut

The near-universal reaction of the automotive press to the Bentley EXP 9F concept car's unveiling at the 2012 Geneva Auto Show was negative, according to several published reports. So much so, that the company now plans to go back to the drawing board and redesign the company's first SUV.

It's just as well. The thing's a dud.

Not only does it resemble a GMC Acadia from the windscreen back, its proportions are all wrong.

Bentley officials are now privately admitting what everyone is saying - that it made a grievous error in design, or as they put it "too heavy-handed." Quite.

To name one mistake, its headlamps are simply too large and too imposing even for Bentley. In fact, just chopping off the front end of its classic Continental design, giving it a garish face-lifting and huge foglamps, then gluing it onto a GMC Acadia-like SUV is hardly worthy of this luxury brand, which would likely charge up to $180,000 for such a vehicle on the market.

The rear, while not overtly offensive, is a bland combination of a BMW and Japanese Sport-Ute, and other than the nice detail work of the tail lamps, lacks something special in its execution.

Company spokesmen are on the record saying it would be the most expensive SUV ever sold. To do that, and do it profitably (and to meet their 2015 launch date) Bentley must get it right. They are, for now, pushing ahead with plans to send the EXP 9F on a world tour of sorts, starting with the Bejing Auto Show late next month, and also putting it in front of current Bentley owners. But surely,  the jury has been tainted at this point and there will be lots of criticism.

But a word of caution to Bentley Motors: There is also some rumbling that the company believes that a redesign will be less "retro" in its styling. While they may have been a bit too slavish in their devotion to Bentley themes in  this design study, one has to remember the experience of Jaguar.

I believed then, as I still believe, that their XF model was too radical for the brand, and went too far towards a "Japanese" look in order to please American and Western European customers (and Japanese ones as well, of course.) In fact, the first model year of that car looked a lot like a Lexus with horrible 1990s Chrysler headlamps attached to a rather Volvo-like grille. Some of that was fixed in Model Year Two, but going too far away from tradition is always a mistake in a luxury car, in my view. And I suspect that view is shared by many of the older buyers who can afford them.

(photos from the Bentley website)