What if Bentley designed the Bentayga in the 1980s? It's a question no one asked, but this rendering that marries the Bentley Turbo R to the first-generation Range Rover provides the answer.
Created by rendering wiz Abimelec Design, the 1989 Bentayga that Bentley never built is pretty much a fancied-up Range Rover with a Turbo R front fascia. In case you're not familiar with the latter, it's a sedan that Bentley produced from 1985 to 1997. It replaced the Mulsanne Turbo and featured a turbocharged version of the company's iconic 6.75-liter V8 engine. Hence the “Turbo” badge. Save for the front fascia, which features a shortened version of the Bentley Turbo R's radiator grille, this virtual SUV is a 1980s Range Rover. But while everything from the front hood and fenders to the tailgate is just like on the standard first-generation hauler, the regular wheels have been replaced by chrome-heavy rollers with hub caps and white-wall tires for a fancier look. It's a somewhat wild idea at first glance, but it's something that might have worked in the 1980s when Jeep introduced the upscale Grand Wagoneer and created the premium SUV niche. I also think it would have been a cool competitor for the first-generation Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon (W460). Of course, a Bentley based on a Range Rover is a ridiculous idea since it would imply that one company owns the other. However, a boxy Bentley SUV isn't a far-fetched idea. You might not know it, but Bentley actually built limited-edition SUV decades before it designed the Bentayga. It's called the Dominator, it was created in the 1990s, and it was as boxy as any hauler from the era. The Dominator was born as a special order for the Sultan of Brunei and it left the company's assembly line in 1996. Bentley built only six of them, each priced at a whopping $4.6 million. All six are believed to still exist, but they haven't been spotted for years now. But that's a story for another day. Meanwhile, check out the virtual predecessor to the modern-day Bentayga in the photo gallery above. The picture bundle includes a 1980s-style ad and a few interesting color combinations that would have been popular back in the day.
Keyword: 1989 Bentley Bentayga Rendering Is a Range Rover With a Turbo R Face