2017 Bentley Flying Spur W12 S revealed

It’s the first Bentley sedan capable of accelerating beyond 200mph – or 321km/h in our money – and the just-released Flying Spur W12 S delivers a sporty and sexy mean streak to match that turn of speed.

Not that the regular Flying Spur W12 lacks appeal at $423,160 plus on-road costs. But the S badge sees chrome thankfully ditched for a black design theme the extends over the door handles, air intakes, grille and mirrors, in addition to smoked headlights and tail-lights.

There are also vast personalisation options of course – and a couple of 21-inch wheels, diamond quilted leather and carbonfibre dashboard trim finishes are just the start.

The Flying Spur W12 S still gets a fixed 40:60 front/rear torque split for its all-wheel-drive system and an eight-speed automatic channelling the 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12 engine that rises 7kW to 467kW and 20Nm to 820Nm. Claimed 0-100km/h falls by only a tenth to 4.5 seconds, however.

S-spec changes to the multi-mode adaptive suspension includes a “new responsive” tune that “improves handling and provides even more traction” while the stability control has also been tinkered with and big carbon ceramic brakes have become optional.

Bentley is targeting customers looking for a “a Flying Spur with extra attitude” according to the brand’s chairman and chief executive Wolfgang Dürheimer who will officially unveil the car at this month’s Paris motor show.

A racier four-door it may be, but the Flying Spur S still can’t quite match the hard-edged nature of the Continental GT Speed it shares its engine tune with but falls three-tenths short of to the standing start 100km/h benchmark.