It's almost as if somebody at Crewe said, “OK, no more Mr Nice Guy.”
The second-generation Bentley Continental GTC convertible - due to debut at the Frankfurt motor show in mid-September - is a lot sharper-edged than its predecessor, both in looks and muscle.
Crisper edges, tighter curves, bigger wheels and wider track combine to give this very grand tourer a slightly in-your-face presence where the previous model was elegant and understated.
Bentley even invented a new way of forming aluminium sheet so that the tautly-curved front wings could each be made in one piece without seams or welds, and 20” rims are now standard, with three styles of 21” hoops available as options.
As for muscle, the familiar, six-litre, twin-turbo W12 has been revised to deliver an extra 11kW (up from 412 to 423) and 50Nm (was 650, now 700). That's combined with a quicker-shifting six-speed ZF auto transmission to take this 2495kg battleship from 0-100 in 4.8sec and on to 314km/h, albeit at a cost of 16.5 litres per 100km and 384g/km of CO2.
The standard all-wheel drive system now has a 40:60 rear torque bias (compared with 50:50 on the original GTC) to reduce understeer in hard cornering, combined with sharper steering, wider track, and retuned suspension, making it possible to balance this imperial musclecar on the throttle in fast sweeps.
The four-seater cockpit has more rear legroom thanks to revised front-seat frames, more storage space and new luxury touches such as touch-screen infotainment, automatic seat-belt presenters and a “neck warmer” (analogous to Mercedes' airscarf) for comfortable top-down motoring whatever the temperature.
All that's hand-trimmed in wood veneer, machined metal, soft leather and deep-pile carpets in a practically unlimited range of colour combinations, which is what you'd expect for £149 350 (R1.8 million) ex factory, or about double that in South Africa.
The new Bentley Continental GT Convertible is available to order now, with the first customer deliveries scheduled for late in 2011.