When you're willing to spend nearly a quarter-million dollars on a car, you probably don't need a rational, reasoned car review to tell you whether that's a good idea. The decision is one part emotion, two parts braggadocio.
We're going to give it a shot anyway. We spent last week driving around the (surprisingly fun) back roads near Beijing, China, in the new 2014 Bentley Flying Spur. Bentley brought us all the way to the Great Wall, hosting the first-ever international car launch in China to drive home the point that Chinese buyers will make up 55 percent of the Flying Spur's sales. And they'll pay a hefty premium – U.S. buyers will pay $200,500, but tariffs will increase the price for Chinese buyers to nearly a half-million dollars.
It seemed a bit gauche to be driving a half-million-dollar car in China, where the majority of its 1.3 billion population is living in poverty. But the country has a growing number of millionaires and billionaires, and is biding its time as the fourth-largest economy in the world until it takes over the No. 1 spot. There are plenty of newly minted rich people here looking to be driven around in a rolling status symbol.
Critics didn't gush over the last Flying Spur, saying it wasn't as refined as it could have been from a carmaker that builds each of its vehicles by hand. Has Bentley done a better job with this new version? Read on to find out.
We're going to give it a shot anyway. We spent last week driving around the (surprisingly fun) back roads near Beijing, China, in the new 2014 Bentley Flying Spur. Bentley brought us all the way to the Great Wall, hosting the first-ever international car launch in China to drive home the point that Chinese buyers will make up 55 percent of the Flying Spur's sales. And they'll pay a hefty premium – U.S. buyers will pay $200,500, but tariffs will increase the price for Chinese buyers to nearly a half-million dollars.
It seemed a bit gauche to be driving a half-million-dollar car in China, where the majority of its 1.3 billion population is living in poverty. But the country has a growing number of millionaires and billionaires, and is biding its time as the fourth-largest economy in the world until it takes over the No. 1 spot. There are plenty of newly minted rich people here looking to be driven around in a rolling status symbol.
Critics didn't gush over the last Flying Spur, saying it wasn't as refined as it could have been from a carmaker that builds each of its vehicles by hand. Has Bentley done a better job with this new version? Read on to find out.
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