Bentley likes to lean heavily on its heritage and isn’t known for radical, futuristic-looking cars, though over the next few years, we’ll be seeing some relatively major changes in the firm’s design language, starting with the Mulliner Batur. For existing cars like the Continental GT coupe and GTC convertible, however, not much will change in the short-to-medium term, even when the facelifted versions of both two-door grand tourers appear later this year. The spy photographers have snapped both versions of the Continental testing, and the pictures reveal that each will be very little changed from the equivalent model currently on sale. In fact, with the huge aftermarket light bar mounted on the bonnet – useful for spotting deer at a distance in northern Sweden – trying its hardest to grab our attention, it would be easy to miss the changes altogether.

That light bar, of course, won’t feature on the finished production Continental, but what will make it to the showroom is the subtly reprofiled bumper that rises far higher, meaning the light units are now located within the bumper, rather than within the fender. The general shape and layout of the bumper air intakes looks similar, but the upper portion of the side intakes seems to come closer to the lights. And unless we’re mistaken, the two light units on each side are now spaced further apart, and shaped differently to the lamps on the current car. The grille also appears fractionally shorter, on the newer cars, though we can’t be sure. If it is, and Bentley has extended the hood to make it happen, that’s a lot of effort to go for something most people won’t even notice, unless there are crash-test benefits we don’t yet know about.

 

Moving to the rear, something we can be certain about is that the taillights, which are single-piece units on the current car, are now split, with the inner portion remaining with the trunk lid when it’s lifted up. Though the one-piece lamps look neater, switching to two-piece lights might allow Bentley to make the rather narrow trunk opening usefully wider. But if the visual changes heading the Continental twins’ way don’t pique your interest, the far more noteworthy mods under the hood might. Bentley has committed to offering only plug-in hybrids and electric cars from 2026, so the facelifted GT and GTC will gain a hybrid option, which should initially be offered alongside traditional combustion versions.

The hybrid is likely to mirror the powertrain in the Flying Spur Hybrid, which means a twin-turbo 2.9-liter V6 working with a single 134 hp electric motor to give a combined 536 hp and 750 Nm. Electric range probably won’t stretch much beyond 32 km, which is about how many miles you can get from a gallon of gas in a current Conti fitted with the optional W12 engine. Sadly, that engine is being phased out in April 2024 and is unlikely to feature in the facelifted GT and GTC lineups.