This is the new Bentley Bentayga, the British firm's first attempt at an off-roader, and surely the most luxurious SUV in the world. Want to explore it up close? Then get yourself down to the Frankfurt Motor Show, where it makes its world debut next week.

Before then, here's everything you need to know about the big, burly Bentayga...

It looks a whole lot better than the EXP 9 F concept
Not hard, given the 2012 Geneva concept was met with a pretty frosty reaction, but we'll leave you to decide whether the Bentayga is a thing of beauty or not.

Frankly, buyers of the world's most luxurious SUV are unlikely to care – they want road presence, and the Bentayga has it in spades. With its bluff front end and Continental GT-style crease framing the rear wheel arch, it's a shape that couldn't come from any other company.

And for good measure, the trademark 'flying B' is repeated on the front flanks, and in the taillight signature. It's all in the detail, darling.

It's unfeasibly quick, and not just for an SUV
Bentley isn't messing around with fuel-friendly diesel or plug-in hybrid engines (although those will arrive in due course), the only version from launch is the W12 petrol – 6.0 litres, 12 cylinders and two turbos of wafty mayhem.

Producing 600bhp and 663lb ft of torque from only 1,250rpm, and available with an eight-speed auto only, Bentley claims the Bentayga will see off 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds, on its way to 187mph – enough to match the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S in a straight line.

Drive like a learner and it'll officially return 22.1mpg and 292g/km – a 12 per cent improvement on any of this engine's previous applications. Hardly green by Evoque diesel standards, mind...

The kids can come, too
Many kids in fact, because soon after launch a seven-seat Bentayga will arrive. For now you have a choice of a conventional three-seat rear bench, or two individual pews that gently massage, heat and ventilate you en route.

Range Rover drivers will look on in disgust as you load an extra 50 litres of luggage into the 590-litre boot, and weep when you unfurl the optional quilted leather 'Event Seat' that turns the boot lip into a posh sofa.

The swoopy dashboard design is modelled on a sideways flying B, while 15 cows are used to trim the interior. It takes 14 hours to craft the wood set for each car. Time-consuming stuff.

It can actually go off-road
Whether owners will ever stray from the bitumen or not is beside the point, but the Bentayga can handle itself off-road to a degree you might not expect.

A wading depth of 500mm and ground clearance of 245mm won't trouble a Range Rover, but mean it's capable of crossing a lot more than just a muddy field.

Order the 'Off-Road' pack and four more modes (Snow & Grass, Dirt & Gravel, Mud & Trail and Sand Dunes) are added to the standard-fit Comfort, Sport, Bentley and Custom programmes that tweak the ride height, damping, roll control, traction control and powertrain responses.

It can definitely go around corners
Courtesy of the fiendishly complicated Bentley Dynamic Ride system – the first 48-volt electric active roll control on any SUV – the Bentayga won't flop from side to side in corners like its high-riding shape might suggest.

Designed to adjust the roll stiffness at each corner in real time, the system knows whether you're cornering hard, so stiffens everything up on one side, or if a single wheel has hit a pot hole and permits maximum articulation at that corner.

All you need to know is that it should stay eerily flat in corners, but ride a like a proper Bentley. Don't expect it to dance from apex to apex, though; at 2,422kg, the Bentayga is 362kg heavier than the Audi Q7 with which it shares the VW Group's steel and aluminium 'MLB' chassis.

If a technology exists, the Bentayga has it
The eight-inch infotainment touchscreen up front may be pretty standard fare these days: what isn't is a pair of 10.2-inch removable tablets to keep the kids quiet in the back, plus a 3.5-inch touch-screen remote for them to play with the climate and audio settings and generally annoy whoever's up front.

The Bentayga's halo stereo system is a potentially damaging 20-speaker 1,950W Naim set-up, while the 3,500kg towing capacity will have millionaire caravan owners rejoicing the world over.

You'll have to try quite hard to have a crash, too, thanks to auto dipping headlights, auto braking, adaptive cruise control that steers for you in traffic jams and 360-degree cameras – handy for squeezing those bulky hips through width restrictors.

It's reassuringly expensive
The upcoming diesel will be a good chunk less, but the Bentayga W12 will set you back £160,200 – and that's before you've raided the options list.

And raid it you will, with impossible-to-ignore extras such as a three-piece bespoke hamper set, a Mulliner 'Tourbillon by Breitling' dashboard clock that's wound by the car's movement, and a storage tray designed specifically for wetsuits. Naturally.

There are also 90 paint colours, 15 types of carpet, seven types of veneer and 15 leather combos to choose from. The indecisive need not apply.