Bentley Taunts Porsche To Claim Title For World's Fastest SUV

Up until now, the title to the world's fastest SUV belongs to Porsche, the 300 km/h Porsche Cayenne Turbo S. Today, Bentley released a video on Youtube, with an interior shot of its still-prototype Bentayga's speedometer showing 301 km/h.

The Bentley Bentayga will not go on sale until 2016 but that hasn't stop it from taunting its rival sister-company Porsche, who like Bentley, is part of the 12-brand Volkswagen Group.

When launched next year, the Bentley will compete against Rolls-Royce's upcoming SUV, but this is Rolls-Royce so they don't use peasant words like 'SUV.' Instead, the Goodwood-based company prefers to call it a 'go anywhere vehicle.'

Power is likely to come from a 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12 engine, but some reports indicate this is a new engine and is not the same W12 unit that currently powers the Bentley Flying Spur and Continental GT.

There aren't many circuits that are long enough to allow an SUV to hit such speeds, but the Volkswagen Group owns two of such facilities - the Nardo Ring in Italy and the Ehra-Lessien circuit in Germany.

Bentley did not reveal the location where the v-max test was conducted, but the four-lane wide circuit does resemble some parts of Nardo Ring, which is owned by Porsche.