You might think of owning a convertible as offering a choice… but really it’s an obligation – an obligation to drive it with the roof down as much as possible. And we have to applaud these engineers from Bentley for taking that to the extreme.

Spotted by our papparrazzi at CarPix in the frozen north is a prototype for the forthcoming Continental GTC, the drop-top version of the recently revealed coupe that we knew would be coming sooner or later. And it looks like sooner.

Though still wearing (some pretty cool-looking geometric) camouflage, it’s plain to see what we’re looking at here. And it looks pretty good with the roof down and that continuous strip of chrome surrounding the cabin.

As bad as we may feel for the engineers tasked with shaking it down with the cold air swirling around, the Conti would probably be the best convertible for driving with the roof down in the winter – what with its all-wheel traction and assuredly comfortable heated seats.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see some sort of Mercedes-style air-scarf system to blow warm air onto the occupants’ necks, and more heated surfaces than the Space Shuttle on reentry. But it’s probably a good thing that these test drivers are bundled up, with the windows up and the rear screen in place.

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