Motoring News

The new Bentley Continental GTC convertible has received two prestigious awards, just two months after its global launch.

Judges at the World’s Most Beautiful Automobile awards in Italy recognised the GTC with a special design award, while US luxury lifestyle magazine Robb Report named the vehicle its car of the year.

For the Robb Report accolade, the Bentley overcame stiff competition in the form of the Rolls Royce Phantom, the Bugatti Veyron and the Maybach 57S.

Gregory Anderson, automotive editor for Robb Report, said: "This was a landslide victory in which the GTC earned first place votes from nearly half the judges, and it was among almost everyone’s top three."

Stuart McCullough of Bentley said that the GTC’s success was down to the engineers at its base in Crewe, adding: "It’s no surprise that the GTC has become the showpiece of the Continental range."

For the other award, which was decided by an international jury based in Milan, the model was praised for its style and design, which the judges deemed to reflect the history of the Bentley brand.

This is not the first time the automaker has been acknowledged at the Italian awards – following the successes of the Azure in 1995, the Arnage saloon in 2002 and the Continental GT coupe in 2003.