Ask the oracles about the future of the auto industry and you'll hear a lot of murmuring about an all-electric future featuring shared autonomous shuttles shuffling around city centers. They may be right, but in today's auto industry it's size that sells. Pickup trucks remain rolling ATMs for American and Japanese automakers. For the Europeans, the crisp bank notes come from giant coupes: Take an SUV, subtract some practicality, add a dose of style and a few cow herds' worth of leather. The results--vehicles like the Mercedes GLC coupe and BMW 6-series--are popular for a sporty look with a high, commanding driving position.

In 2011, Bentley's new CEO decided to get into the luxury SUV market. Wolfgang Durheimer, the incoming boss, had migrated across parent company Volkswagen Group from the Porsche division. He saw what the popular Cayenne crossover had done for Porsche's bottom line. Durheimer gave the Bentley engineers a simple mandate: Make the most powerful, most luxurious and most exclusive SUV on the planet. With the 2017 Bentley Bentayga, the company's first crossover, he appears to have succeeded.