Bentley Asks China’s Weibo Users: Is Our SUV Hot or Not?

Bentley's EXPLab app on Sina Weibo today.

Whether legendary British automaker Bentley decides to make its first ever SUV could rest in the hands – or mouse-clicks – of Chinese social media users. That’s because Bentley is seeking input from users of Sina Weibo, China’s hottest Twitter-like site, about the design of its EXP 9 F concept for a luxury SUV. To do so, the manufacturer has created an app within the Sina Weibo site called EXPLab – check it out here if you’re logged-in to Weibo – that canvases opinion on many key elements of the model.

The experiment is being backed up by Bentley’s own official Weibo page which launched back in March. Spotted by the luxury-oriented website Jing Daily, it points out that Bentley did the same thing on Facebook a while back after a luke-warm public response to the hefty SUV concept.

Firstly, the new Bentley Weibo app asks for your impression of the SUV as a whole, how its interior strikes you, whether it should have a V8 or W12 engine, how you like its interior, and, ultimately, if you think it’s a good idea for Bentley to launch the thing. Then the survey goes off into other aspects of driving and vehicle preferences in general. At the end, you’re rewarded with some wallpaper for your computer and mobile devices. Not exactly a detailed focus group in terms of feedback, and it’s debatable if the responses on Weibo – or Facebook – will have any impact on the Volkswagen-owned marque and its SUV plans.

Hot or not? A promo shot of the SUV concept from Bentley. Click to enlarge.

After testing out that app, I see that only 73 other Weibo users have done likewise. But, as with Bentley’s cars, it’s about the quality – and perhaps the free publicity too – and not anything so crass as numbers.

The EXP 9 F is Bentley’s response to the huge success of the Porsche Panamera – especially in China, where I see they outnumber bicycles in some richer suburbs of major cities – which in turn adapted the idea of the Range Rover as a high-end SUV/four-wheel drive car that has all the luxuries of an executive-class sedan. It was debuted at the Geneva Motor Show back in March and Bentley later conceded that its design might need some work before it almost certainly heads into production. It would also be up against the upcoming Lamborghini Urus SUV, which many would say looks more awesome and less ungainly or blocky than Bentley’s contender.

[Hat-tip to the Jing Daily for spotting this]

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