(Un)Delete Option: Bentley Continental Supersports options list to include rear seat?

We’ve come to expect the ultimate in customization from Bentley. If you’ve got the scratch, the company will be more than happy to custom tailor its products to fit your tastes – right down to the color of your car’s seat belts. It should come as no surprise, then, that the company is now allowing potential ContinentalSupersports Coupe buyers to order their cars with a back seat.

One of the coolest parts of the 612-horsepower coupe is the fact that, for its part, Bentley tried to trim the car’s fat. Weight got ditched wherever possible, including the cabin. Those hefty, infinitely adjustable, heated, cooled and massaging front buckets were swapped for lightweight carbon fiber-backed units, and the two rear seats were scrapped all together. In their place? Asexy piece of carbon-fiber bracing. We like.

But evidently, Bentley buyers would prefer their two-door to have more seats. To help boost Continental Supersports Coupe sales, the company has decided to offer the back thrones as a stand alone option. Checking the box will put the standard front seats in, ditch the rear bracing and re-install the rears. There’s no word on exactly how many pounds that will add to the car’s waist line, but it can’t do the coupe any favors. Boo to this.

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Bentley Launches Mulliner Styling Pack for Continental GT

Bentley’s new Continental GT is, without question, a coupe with imposing road presence. But the British firm wishes to offer its customers the opportunity to make their cars even more unique by launching a range of styling options named Mulliner Styling Specification Classic Pack.This styling package consists of a front splitter, strakes integrated in the front intake grilles, sideextension blades and a rear diffuser, all made from glossy black carbon-fibre.

If you think these are not enough, Bentley also offers more options such as a carbon-fibre rear spoiler and mirror covers, as well as dark mesh front wing vents and black 21-inch 7-spoke alloy wheels.

According to Bentley’s head of exterior design, Raul Pires, the Mulliner Styling SpecificationClassic Pack “with its sharper lines and darker, lower appearance underlines the iconic form of Bentley’s new GT, underscores its extrovert, flamboyant nature and delivers a more personalized, sportive interpretation of a luxurious and refined GT”.

The Classic Pack is already available to order, while the optional features will be available from the following autumn.

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Bentley Defies Crisis with a 20% Increase in Global Sales

Crisis? What crisis? For you and me, perhaps, but not for Bentley buyers. The VW-owned Britishluxury carmaker announced today a 20% increase in global sales for the first half of 2011 with 2,978 cars delivered to customers, the best start for the company since 2008.
The luxury marque attributes this surge in sales to the high demand for the new Continental GT as well as the increasing popularity in (least we forget, communist…) China, where Bentley sales have risen by 57% compared to the same period last year, to 680 cars. Thus, it has become the manufacturer’s second best market, behind only the US (George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, anyone?).

Not to be outdone by China, the capitalist West has contributed its fair, albeit smaller, share toBentley’s rise. In Europe, sales have increased by 25% (494 cars) and in the USA by 23% (907 cars). Only in Japan, due to the recent catastrophic natural disasters, and the Middle East, wherepolitical unrest rules, have sales declined.

So, well done Bentley – and well done to all the fat cats out there, be they…capitalists or…communists, who are rapidly increasing in numbers each day.

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Report: Dodge version of Alfa Giulietta coming for 2012

According to the latest reports, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta will serve as the basis for the Dodge Caliber’ssuccessor, and it’s set to arrive in late 2011 as a 2012 model. USA Today credits Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Chrysler and Fiat, with the proclamation that some form of Giulietta will wind up as a Dodge. Considering last year’s five-year plan that shows the Caliber discontinued after 2011, Chrysler will need something to fill its place in showrooms.

Refreshes will carry the venerable LX cars, and the Sebring has been transformed into the more promising200, but those moves are mere stopgaps. Without a small car to sell against its domestic rivals, Chryslerand Dodge will be at a significant disadvantage. Fiat has expressed its desire to expand its stake in Chrysler beyond its 20 percent level, and the only way that’s going to happen is if the automaker succeeds Stateside. Enthusiasts have looked longingly across the Atlantic at the Giulietta, and if the car connects as well with the public at large and carries the right blend of quality and verve, it could be a boon for Chrysler.

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Alfa Romeo Giulietta G430 iMove Marangoni debuts in Bologna

Think of Alfa Romeo and the color you’ll likely be picturing is red. But a custom version of the Giuliettaunveiled at the Bologna Motor Show has gone a decidedly greener route.

Outfitted by Italian rubber company Marangoni and fashion house Conte of Florence, the Giulietta G430 iMove is based on the Giuletta 1750 Quadrifoglio Verde and distinguished by special green tires riding on 19-inch Barracuda Karizzma alloys. But that’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the modifications carried out on the special Giulietta.

A Ragazzon stainless steel exhaust system boosts output up to 232 horsepower, while a Tarox braking system, KW suspension and custom aero kit also factor in to the program, along with a golf-themed leather, Alcantara and carbon fiber interior by Conte of Florence. There’s even a Segway scooter mounted in the back, and you can get all the details about the show car in the press release after the jump and view it in detail in the high-resolution image mega-gallery below.

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Alfa Romeo 4C headed to American showrooms, Abarth version to follow

We’re still feeling the aftershocks from the unveiling of the tempting Alfa Romeo 4C Concept in Geneva, and reports about its production – and distribution – are already beginning to surface.

When Alfa CEO Harald Wester unveiled the 4C Concept, he indicated that production possibilities are not only being carefully considered, but that the 4C could make it to the United States to spearhead the marque’s return to these shores.

Of course, that’s what Alfa said about the 8C Competizione, with sales totaling 84 coupes and 35 roadsters across the United States. That was it – no additional (read: more accessible) Alfamodels followed. Could the production 4C pick up where its big brother left off?

If it does, rumor has it that, instead of selling through Maserati dealerships as the 8C was, the 4C would be sold alongside the Fiat 500 at the many new stores being set up in the U.S.

The same report also indicates that an additional run of Abarth versions of the 4C could be in the cards, as well. Whether they’d be even more performance-oriented versions of the same (as the Scorpion brand does with the Fiat 500 and Punto) or rebodied and rebadged as an Abarth-specific model (roadster, anyone?) remains to be seen. Regardless, consider our interest piqued.

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