A NEW flagship SUV is joining the Bentley line up with an extended wheelbase version of the Bentayga coming on stream later in 2022.

Some 18cm longer than the standard Bentayga the new model is 5.322 metres long and up to 40mm longer than any other luxury SUV.

The EWB variant comes with a new Airline Seat specification which allows up to 22 ways of adjustment and includes a 4+1 layout as well as four and five seat set ups.

Prices are still to be announced but the car will be launched with a 550ps 4.0-litre V8 engine in the last quarter of the year.

The car comes with the world's first auto climate sensing system which senses occupant temperature and surface humidity and then determines whether to apply heat, ventilation or both simultaneously to keep the occupant at optimum thermal wellbeing.

The Bentayga has been a huge success for Bentley since its introduction in 2015 with the car accounting for a third of its sales of 14,659 models in 2021.

Adrian Hallmark, chairman and chief executive of Bentley Motors, said: "The Bentayga Extended Wheelbase is our first car truly dedicated to the onboard wellness of its occupants. Every Bentley gets you to your destination feeling more relaxed than when you started your journey, and yet with the Extended Wheelbase we've been able to go even further thanks to the adoption of world-first wellness technology embedded within our unrivalled interior cabin design.

"In combination with the incredible skills of the craftspeople at our carbon-neutral factory in Crewe, these advances make the Bentayga Extended Wheelbase the ultimate luxury SUV to drive or be driven in."

The 4+1 seating layout will be standard on the EWB Bentayga with four and five seat set ups as options.

A seven seat arrangement will remain available on the standard model.

Luggage capacity of the Bentayga EWB ranges from 380 to 484 litres depending on the seating configuration and the new model is the first Bentley to offer powered closing doors.

The extra length has been added in the rear doors and Bentley says the cabin has an extra 10mm of headroom compared to its Mulsanne limousine while the wheelbase is now 3,175mm with the introduction of electronic all wheel steering giving it a turning circle of 11.8 metres - seven per cent less than the standard model.