By: Dave Abrahams
Brand, Bavaria - Outrageous is one thing, but this, in the opinion of the IOL petrolheads, is what the French call “oeuvre le top”.
This is what Kourosh Mansory thinks a Bentley Bentayga should look like - and we have to ask, how did he get it so wrong?
While panelled black and white is not a classy colour scheme for a car unless your first name is Officer, it looks even worse - somehow more fragmented - in all-black.
But at least it's not nipple pink or baby-poo green and, looked at individually, each of the Mansory components is neatly designed and finished to impeccable standards. Yet the sum of those parts is so devoid of taste and class we're surprised it doesn't come with a disclaimer from Crewe.
The Mansory treatment starts with a complete front apron, including a clear-lacquered carbon-fibre splitter and additional LED daytime running lights; the grille and bonnet are also replaced with the light stuff.
The deep sill skirts are beautifully made, but their horizontal extensions would look out of place on anything but a Nascar racer, while the rear end is as overdone as Kim Kardashian's, with a chunky carbon-fibre diffuser under not one but two rear wings - a cute little bustle under the rear window and a two-piece extravaganza around the top of the tailgate.
The one-piece 23 inch forged-alloy Y5/1 rims, finished in gloss black with diamond-polished flanges, wear 295/35 Continental low-profile rubber - and this, we think, is where Mansory made its first really big error. The front suspension is lowered more than the rear, and the 'slammed' look does not sit well on any SUV, not even including BMW's power-hungry X6.
The interior of the show car is trimmed in quilted beige leather that's just one shade away from nipple pink, bleached walnut veneer and white shag floormats, with carbon-fibre scuff-plates that look completely out of place in this decidedly 'boudoir' palette, as do the aluminium sports pedals.
But the piece de resistance, in our view, is the wonky Mansory steering wheel that tries hard to look exclusive and succeeds only in looking weird.
Under the bonnet and the obligatory Mansory-logo'd carbon fibre engine cover, the tuner's engineering skills are hard to fault, although it's unlikely that any punter crass enough to buy this thing would appreciate that.
Thanks to a free-breathing exhaust system and a completely new engine management set-up, the Mansory Bentayga's six-litre biturbo W12 has been boosted from 447kW to a thundering 515kW, while torque is up from 900 to 1050Nm, and top speed by about 10km/h to 310km/h.
The Mansory Bentayga will be shown in public for the first time at the Specialty Equipment Market Association aftermarket and go-fast show from 1-4 November at the Las Vegas Convention Centre, probably the only place in the world where it will not look out of place.
Let us know what you think of Mansory's take on the Bentayga on Twitter or on our Facebook page .