Back in the summer, Bentley teased plans to bring back its Supersports nameplate with a lightweight, non-hybrid version of its Continental GT grand tourer. Now, that car is finally here. The 2026 Bentley Continental Supersports is certainly lighter, but by sports car standards, it still sounds heavy as hell.
The Supersports nameplate has always been associated with speed. The very first Super Sports, a 1925 model based on the company’s first chassis, the 3 Litre, was the first from the brand to break 100 mph. Then, in 2009, Bentley built a new Supersports based on the Continental GT, which could hit 204 mph.
Bentley’s taking a different approach with this Supersports, aiming for driver engagement rather than top speed. The car is still fast, of course. It can get from 0-62 in 3.7 seconds and hit a top speed of 192 mph. But it’s slower than the normal Continental GT Speed in both respects: that car can do the same sprint in 3.1 seconds, onto a top speed of 208 mph.
The Supersports makes up for that with a whole lot less weight. The all-wheel drive system and hybrid system attached to the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 are gone, leaving an ICE-only, rear-drive setup to power the big two-door coupe. To compensate, Bentley’s added “a stronger crankcase, uprated cylinder heads and larger turbos.” The result is 648 horsepower—the most from any car using this engine in the VW Group lineup.
The missing drivetrain bits, along with a handful of carbon fiber exterior pieces, a carbon roof, a two-seat cabin with carbon seats, carbon-ceramic brakes, and a titanium exhaust from Akrapovič, mean a curb weight “less than” 2,000 kilograms (4,409 pounds). While that’s certainly not light by normal performance car standards, it’s really light by Bentley standards. It’s about 1,000 pounds lighter than the normal GT, and the lightest Bentley in 85 years (at least according to Bentley).
The whole point of this lightweighting is to make the car more fun to drive. To that end, Bentley says the Supersports can corner roughly 30% quicker than the GT Speed, able to hold up 1.3 g of lateral acceleration with the optional Pirelli Trofeo RS tires. Here’s some of the trickery behind how such a heavy car can do that:
Power is fed exclusively to the rear wheels through an eLSD, out to rear wheels that have an increased track of 16 mm over a Continental GT. The eLSD is assisted by torque vectoring by brake, with the systems working together to make turn-in as sharp as possible and to give maximum traction. Rear-wheel steering is retained for maximum agility and stability, while the calibrations for the steering, suspension, traction management and ESC systems are all-new.
Bentley is only building 500 examples of the Supersports, and while pricing hasn’t been released, I have to assume it’ll be way more expensive than the regular GT Speed, which starts at $306,250. If you’re lucky enough to be in the market, you’ll be happy to know that you can request a specific build slot between 1 and 500, so long as someone doesn’t beat you to your number first.
Top graphic image: Bentley
I am definitely getting one of these. I guess I could try living in it so I don’t need my house anymore.
“Weighs 1.89 Miatas […] less than” 2,000 kilograms”
Mazda Roadster (ND) starts at 900kg.
1.87・990kg = 1871kg.
Is <1871kg confirmed?
You gonna let it slide huh, this rear drive monster? I’m picking up whatcha laying down.
LMAO! How many Miatai does that there vehicle weight? Is a hilarious unit of measurement. Well done Sir, well done!
OK, I’ll take one!
It looks like they put a Bently grill on a Mustang.
Reminds me a bit of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage
I’m not normally a fan of the “all black everything otherwise how would you know it’s the SPORTS one” interiors, but that’s actually quite well done – they managed to land on “very expensive modern fancy club”, as opposed to Mercedes’ “three day drug binge in Ibiza” vibes.
Bentleys coupes tend to have much better presence than a ‘pedestrian’ Benz, but prices normally reflect that.
This looks like something a 13 year old would customize in Grand Theft Auto- especially the 8/$ in the grill.
So apparently it’s basically a 2-door Panamera
Sweet ride, but I’d replace the 8 on the grill by a $
that’s what i thought it was lmao
I’ll give them credit as it’s apparent they’re taking the exercise seriously. Contis are pretty wide for a car
Hacking out 1000lbs and then productionalizing it also means they lined up enough buyers to sell them through. When we’re probably talking $450-500K out the door, it’s not easy to sell 500 of something that strays quite significantly from the normal Bentley formula.
I’m still mad the EXP 10 Speed 6 Concept done by Donkervolke never happened. 2 seats, giant liftback hatch. Proper GT!
Even though Bentley is ostensibly British the ‘B’ logo on the grille in the lead photo looks rather like the dollar sign ‘$’ almost as if Richie Rich had such a car (& it was driven by Bascomb.)
Did someone from Mansory take a temp job?
I was literally gonna say that this looks just like Mansory made this. Even though the body kit’s aero might be made function in mind it looks extremely tacky. If I was in the market for this I’d prefer a bit slower car if that meant it didn’t look like some 14 year old designed it after binging Red Bull and all the Fasts and Furiouses.
I like how you…slid…that pun in the title.
Beat me to it! Yes, if that’s a drifting joke, it’s solid.
Was gonna say, “…let” it slide? Might not have a choice in the matter.
That’s pretty good looking for a car I will probably never see in person.
The fastest lorry in the world, according to the founder of Bentley’s 45% stablemate, Bugatti, is not supposed to be light. But it is properly RWD, so it is good to see it return to form in that area. The Continental R will always be the high-water mark of Bentley coupes. The Brooklands Coupé also deserves mention, but it is not as crisp. This car, on the other hand, will hopefully be the first of many RWD Audis (aside from the R8 and EVs).
To be fair, the current Conti GT and Flying Spur aren’t set up like Audis, as the previous ones were. They have a more engine-rearward layout and share more commonality with Porsche than Audi. As it is, these cars are on the same MSB platform as the 2017+ Panamera.
I thought VW converged the longitudinal platforms, but yeah, they still have the MSB and the MLB/PPC as longitudinal platforms. This is a fancy Porsche, but the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus are fancy Audis.
Absolutely.
So much of that weight must have been the Hybrid system, the Hybrid Conti GT has a 26 kWh pack, so that had to have been 500+ of the total weight savings alone. Sure 4400 lbs is still a decent amount, but that’s still a THOUSAND pounds less than a new M5. Hell, that’s within 100 lbs of a new AWD M4 convertible. It’s slightly insane and completely pointless, but so many of the best cars are.
Good LORD I keep forgetting just how mammoth the new M5 is. I am amazed that they managed to make a 4 door sports car weigh nearly 5400 pounds. The Ioniq 5N weighs 4650! And that’s got a full EV battery in there!
It looks like a Mustang with a body kit.
I was hoping I wasn’t the only one. The door is what does it.
Once seen, it cannot be unseen. It’s the rear fender line for me.
It is going to be a terror leaving Cars & Vintage Merlots
Motorcars and Merlots. Those proles shouldn’t have been on the sidewalk, looking at their betters, instead of toiling away in the workhouses.
No. That’s WAYYYYY too pedestrian for this.
It’ll only show up at Chauffeurs & Chateauneuf-du-Pape
First thing I noticed was the hips; looks like the S550.
Yeah, the door, the roofline, the rear windows. This is a run of the mill Mustang with luxury crap bolted on. Hey, the rich aren’t all that smart about money generally, so if Bentley is able to part them from their dollars, I’m all for it. We can all point and laugh, and maybe even say to their faces what idiots they are.
Just don’t ask VW if they’re considering shortening the name to simply “SS”
Well, maybe for the US market because why not? They can just say it stands for “slippery slope”
It might actually be because GM keeps “SS” for their hot models
This is almost certainly not what I’d choose to do if I had fuck you money but I’m still happy it exists. I’ll always admire Bentley for their sheer and unapologetically British ridiculousness.
Same here. Doesn’t make sense but that’s a good thing.