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Because 552 horsepower sometimes just isn't enough, Bentley today held an online launch of its updated Continental GT - and announced it now puts out 567 hp!


While still a gas-sucking fiend, the 2011 Continental GT, with its six-liter, 12-cylinder, twin-turbocharged engine, is actually taking a turn for the better in terms of fuel efficiency.


The yet-to-be priced luxury sports car, which will debut for real at the Paris Auto Show later this month, now gets an estimated 12 mpg in city driving and 19 mpg on the highway.


That's a 20 percent improvement in city fuel economy and a 12 percent improvement in highway driving over the 2009 model (a 2010 Continental GT wasn't available in the U.S.).


What's more, it's a flex-fuel machine capable of accepting ethanol-85. Would any Continental GT likely put E85 in their tank? That's an interesting question.


But wait, there's more: Bentley said today that late next year the 2012 model will be offered with a flex-fuel 4-liter V8 delivering 40 percent better fuel economy than the V12 engine, which Bentley calls the "W12."


No one at Bentley is saying what sort of quickness the "environmentally sensitive" V8 will bring, but the 2011 model packing the V12 - make that W12 - is said to reach 60 miles per hour from a standstill in 4.4 seconds.

Tags: Auto Shows, Bentley, Emissions, Fuel Economy, 2010 Paris Auto Show, 2011 Bentley Continental GT, Debut, Fuel Economy, Fuel Efficiency

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2011 Bentley Continental GT Debuts Online With a Bow Toward the Green Crowd was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.