Bentley Information

Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later versions of the Sopwith Camel. After the war W. O. Bentley designed and made production cars that won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1924 and following models which repeated those successes each June 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930.

Bentley Logo

Before World War I, W.O. Bentley had been in partnership with his brother H.M. Bentley selling French DFP cars, but he had always wanted to design and build his own range of cars bearing his name. In August 1919, Bentley Motors Ltd. was registered, and a chassis with dummy engine was exhibited at the London Motor Show in October of that year. An engine was built and running by December, and orders were taken for deliveries starting in June 1920; however, development took longer than estimated, and the first cars were not ready until September 1921. Their durability earned widespread acclaim. Appearances were made in hill climbs and at Brooklands and a single entry in the 1922 Indianapolis 500 mile race driven by Douglas Hawkes finished at an average speed in excess of 80 miles an hour.

Modern Bentleys
After acquiring the business Volkswagen spent £500 million to modernise the Crewe factory and increase production capacity. As of early 2010, there are about 3,500 working at Crewe, compared with about 1,500 in 1998 before being taken over by Volkswagen. It was reported that Volkswagen invested a total of nearly US$2 billion in Bentley and its revival.

In 2002, Bentley presented Queen Elizabeth II with an official State Limousine to celebrate her Golden Jubilee. In 2003, Bentley's 2-door convertible, the Bentley Azure, ceased production, and Bentley introduced a second line, Bentley Continental GT, a large luxury coupé powered by a W12 engine built in Crewe.

Bentley Mulsanne

Demand had been so great, that the factory at Crewe was unable to meet orders despite an installed capacity of approximately 9500 vehicles per year; there was a waiting list of over a year for new cars to be delivered. Consequently, part of the production of the new Flying Spur, a four-door version of the Continental GT, was assigned to the Transparent Factory (Germany), where the Volkswagen Phaeton luxury car is also assembled. This arrangement ceased at the end of 2006 after around 1000 cars, with all car production reverting to the Crewe plant.
In April 2005, Bentley confirmed plans to produce a four seat convertible model—the Azure, derived from the Arnage Drophead Coupé prototype—at Crewe beginning in 2006. By the autumn of 2005, the convertible version of the successful Continental GT, the Continental GTC, was also presented. These two models were successfully launched in late 2006.

A limited run of a Zagato modified GT was also announced in March 2008, dubbed "GTZ".
A new Bentley version of the Bentley Continental was introduced at the 2009 Geneva Auto Show: The Continental Supersports. This new Bentley is a supercar combining extreme power with environmentally friendly FlexFuel technology. A muscular two-seater with distinctive exterior and interior styling, the Supersports is unmistakably Bentley in design, craftsmanship and performance. The engine derived from Bentley’s current W12 power unit was re-engineered, re-tuned and re-mapped to achieve phenomenal supercar potency. 0–60 mph in 3.7 seconds (0–100 km/h 3.9 seconds). 621 brake horsepower (463 kW; 630 PS) 800 newton metres (590 ft·lbf) at 2,000 to 4,500 rpm. The Continental Supersports is the fastest, most powerful production Bentley ever.
Bentley sales continued to increase, and in 2005 8,627 were sold worldwide, 3,654 in the United States. In 2007 the 10,000 cars-per-year threshold was broken for the first time with sales of 10,014. For 2007, a record profit of €155 million was also announced. Bentley reported a sale of about 7,600 units in 2008. However, its global sales plunged 50 percent to 4,616 vehicles in 2009 (with the U.S. deliveries dropped 49% to 1,433 vehicles) and it suffered an operating loss of €194 million, compared with a profit of €10 million in 2008.

Bentley Continental GT

• 1998: Arnage saloon
• 1999: Hunaudieres Concept
• 2002: State Limousine
• 2003: Continental GT coupé
• 2005: Continental Flying Spur saloon
• 2006: Azure convertible
• 2006: Continental GT convertible
• 2007: Continental GT Speed coupé
• 2008: Bentley Brooklands coupé
• 2008: Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed saloon
• 2009: Continental GTC Speed
• 2009: Azure T
• 2009: Arnage saloon, Final Series
• 2009: Continental Supersports
• 2009: Bentley Zagato GTZ
• 2010: Bentley Mulsanne
• 2011: 2nd Generation Continental