NEW YORK -- The Bentley Bentayga, as one life-style magazine puts it, is one helipad short of being a yacht.

For Bentley and its U.S. dealers that begin selling the first modern ultraluxury-brand SUV this month, the Bentayga marks an opportunity to reboot, repolish and chart a new course.

The launch is the British brand's biggest undertaking since it was separated from Rolls-Royce in 2003, a split under Volkswagen Group that prompted a raft of new U.S. Bentley dealerships.

It coincides with an overhaul of Bentley's dealerships under a new corporate identity program -- the first since 2006. Altogether, Bentley's 53 North and South American dealers are investing up to $60 million on expanded and renovated showrooms and service departments.

In Troy, Mich., outside Detroit, dealer principal David Fischer of the Suburban Collection refitted a former Hummer store to make room for a more spacious Bentley showroom that is now among the biggest in the country. Bentley's largest U.S. dealer by volume, Beverly Hills Bentley in Southern California, is planning to open a renovated showroom.

Michael Winkler, CEO of Bentley Motors, says 80 percent of the brand's dealerships will be upgraded or new, and with showrooms separate from other exotic brands, in time for the SUV's debut.