The History of Bentley

The Bentley brand had been the driving force in the growth of Rolls Royce Motor Cars for a decade when the Vickers Group put the chronically underfunded producer of luxury automobiles up for sale in October 1997. The royal carmaker was ideal for the development of a luxury segment under the Volkswagen Group umbrella: Bentley supplied the sporty and luxurious model range and Rolls Royce the illustrious name. In March 1998, it became clear that Volkswagen could not have both. On July 3, 1998the Wolfsburg manufacturer acquired the Bentley brand, the factory in Crewe and the right to use the Rolls Royce brand name until the end of 2002. Volkswagen’s brand policy had been mainly focussed on Bentley cars from the outset. By its acquisition, the Volkswagen Group made a successful entry into the luxury segment. Rolls Royce and Bentley once again went their separate ways after 2003, resuming the tradition started in the early days of their history, when the two companies had been competitors.

Unterzeichnung des Übernahmevertrags Bentley — SIGNING OF THE ACQUISITION AGREEMENT 1998

Walter Owen Bentley established Bentley Motors in London on January 20, 1919. Six months later, the company was wound up in the course of a financial restructuring and refounded under the same name. Bentley had a passion for engines and speed. He had established a reputation as a fine engineer by developing two aircraft engines in World War I before his 3-litre Bentley prototype attracted attention at the London Motor Show in November 1919. The remarkably uncomplicated vehicle’s handling, performance and braking qualities were ground-breaking, and it featured a newly designed 4-cylinder engine which could take the car to the then magical speed of 100 miles per hour. The first mass production vehicle, delivered to its owner in September 1921, was made in a small factory established by Bentley at Cricklewood in North London. Almost 150 cars had been assembled there by 1922, while production costs multiplied as sales grew. At this point it became apparent that the engineering expertise of Bentley, the visionary, was not matched by his business acumen. In 1924, despite financial difficulties, he began to develop a 6.5 litre model intended as his masterpiece. Two years later, the luxurious model was ready for production but the company was bankrupt. The millionaire businessman and car enthusiast Woolf Barnato came to the rescue and took over the company, with W.O. Bentley retained as Managing Director. Following a brief revival – which, in 1929, saw Bentley Motors record its first and only profit – the Great Depression, poor cost awareness on the part of management and the development of the 8-litre Bentley once again drove the company to bankruptcy in July 1931.

The Rolls Royce Motor Corporation seized the opportunity to take over its fiercest competitor in November 1931. During the 1930s, the company followed the general trend towards Fordist production methods in order to reduce production costs. Standardised components were increasingly used on the two product lines, sacrificing traditional Bentley characteristics such as performance and dynamism. Instead, the brand benefited from refined workmanship and was able to survive through troubled times. The brand initially maintained a degree of independence, as up to the Second World War Bentley engines and chassis were not used in Rolls Royce models.

It was only due to financial pressures in the post-war era that the British manufacturer began making model policy changes that constrained the Bentley brand. The MK VI, built at the new factory in Crewe from 1946, was forced off the market in 1951 by the virtually identical Rolls Royce Silver Dawn. A final highlight was the Type R Continental coupe, produced from 1952 to 1955. Over the following three decades, Bentley lost its independent profile, producing only derivatives of the corresponding Rolls Royce models. As a result, the Bentley marque became less and less important.

In 1980, the situation changed dramatically. The armaments group Vickers plc acquired Rolls Royce Motor Cars Ltd. and recognised the potential of the Bentley brand, breathing new life into it with the Bentley Mulsanne Turbo. There was only one key difference between this model, introduced in 1982, and the Rolls Royce Silver Spirit: a turbocharger boosting power output by 50 percent to 300 horsepower. What was at the time the fastest Bentley ever initiated a renaissance of the brand. It was followed in 1984 by the Bentley Eight, intended to compete with Mercedes and BMW models, and in 1985 by the Mulsanne Turbo R, heralding the dawn of a new model era. The product range expanded, and a return to the sporting tradition established by W.O. Bentley provided the decisive impetus for growth. Between 1983 and 1989 the share of Bentleys in overall Rolls Royce production rose from less than five percent to over 50. Three years later, two Bentleys were being sold for every Rolls Royce. Within the space of a decade, Bentley had become the dominant brand, with a new identity mainly embodied in the coupes of the 1990s. The imposing combination of performance and luxury had once again become the signature of the brand, which was to f lourish anew in the Volkswagen era.

A major factor in the development of the company, renamed Bentley Motors Ltd. in September 2002, was the reintegration of key competencies which had played a major role in the history of Bentley but had been outsourced away from the factory under the ownership of Vickers. These not only included prototype testing, but most especially the production of the V8 engine, which had been subcontracted to Vickers Engineering. Following its acquisition of the company, the Volkswagen Group brought engine production back to Crewe, providing Bentley’s engineers with direct access to power plant development once again.

Volkswagen signalled its confidence in the brand and the workforce by investing a total of DM 1.1 billion in the modernisation of the factory and in the development of new products between 1999 and 2003. The Arnage Green Label, already developed when the acquisition took place, was revised and transformed within the space of a year into the Red Label, with a more precise suspension, more space in the rear and higher power output. Bentley’s development engineers replaced the BMW engine with the more powerful V8, which boosted demand, raising sales in the year 2000 by 50 percent. The fundamental transformation of this model took more than two years before the Arnage T made its debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2002. Using technical know-how from Volkswagen, the Bentley engineering team had succeeded in considerably improving the rigidity of the design and the modified V8 now produced 456 hp, powering the Arnage from nought to 100 kilometres per hour in just 5.5 seconds.

EXP Speed 8 in Le Mans — EXP SPEED 8 IN LE MANS

It was the coupe developed to close the market gap between Mercedes and Porsche, an entirely new model, that was to bring the breakthrough for Bentley and open up a new customer segment. Designed, developed and built in Crewe, the Continental GT fulfilled a long-held dream for Bentley. The company had built a new assembly shed specially for this new model. Constructed using bodyshells supplied by the Volkswagen plant at Zwickau, the traditional craftsmanship which still played a key role in its production was complemented by state-of-the-art technology. The production of a Continental GT took 150 hours, as against 400 hours for an Arnage. Following the debut of the prototype at the Paris Motor Show in 2002, Bentley launched the production model the following year. By that time, 3,200 orders had already been taken. The four-wheel-drive Continental GT embodied a striking synthesis of elegance, luxury and speed. The new model was powered by a compact 12-cylinder, twin-turbocharged engine, giving the two-tonne car a top speed of 320 kilometres per hour on the test track. As had been hoped, the coupe allowed Bentley to attract new, younger customers impressed by its style, performance and technology.

Cockpit des Continental GT — COCKPIT OF THE CONTINENTAL GT

Continental Flying Spur — CONTINENTAL FLYING SPUR

Produktion in Crewe — PRODUCTION IN CREWE

By 2009, sales had fallen back to 4,616 units. The recovery began in 2010 with the launch of the new Mulsanne. The new f lagship embodied an exemplary combination of supreme luxury with the outstanding performance of the 12-cylinder engines. The new-generation Continental GT, featuring more distinct contours, extra interior space and additional driver assistance and information systems, delivered a sportily elegant and luxurious facelift to the model, enabling the brand to achieve turnaround in 2011. Bentley returned to profit after three loss-making years. Having delivered 8,510 vehicles to customers in 2012, sales had risen to 11,020 units by 2014, thanks in part to the eightcylinder Flying Spur. This enabled Bentley to build further on its leadership position in the luxury car segment. Increased unit sales generated an operating profit of EUR 170 million. Key drivers of growth were the new V8 engines in the Continental GT and GTC as well as the launch of the new Continental GT Speed, which with a top speed of 330 kilometres per hour (205 mph) became the fastest roadlegal Bentley ever.