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
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