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For other uses of "Bentley", see Bentley (disambiguation).

Bentley Motors Limited is a British based manufacturer of luxury automobiles and Grand Tourers. Bentley Motors was founded in England on January 18, 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley, known as W.O. Bentley or just "W.O." (1888–1971). He was previously known for his successful range of rotary aero-engines in the First World War, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later versions of the Sopwith Camel. The company is currently owned by the Volkswagen Group.

Contents 1 Bentley as a separate company 2 Bentleys of the Rolls Royce era 3 Volkswagen Group ownership 3.1 Modern Bentleys 3.2 Current Bentley racing 4 See also 5 External links

Bentley as a separate company

A group of wealthy British automobile aficionados known as "the Bentley Boys" (Woolf Barnato, heir to a partnership in the Kimberly diamond mines, Sir Henry Birkin, George Duller, steeplechaser, Glen Kidston, aviator, Sammy Davis, automotive journalist, and Dr. Dudley Benjafield) kept the car's reputation for high performance alive. At one point, on a bet, Barnato raced a legendary car from Cannes to Calais, then by ferry to Dover and finally London, traveling on public highways with normal traffic, and won; the special-bodied 6.5 liter car became known as the Blue Train Bentley. Thanks to the dedication of this group to serious racing, the company, located at Cricklewood, north London, was noted for its four consecutive victories at the 24 hours of Le Mans from 1927-1930. Their greatest competitor at the time, Bugatti, whose lightweight, elegant, but fragile creations contrasted with the Bentley's rugged reliability and durability, referred to them as "the world's fastest trucks". Perhaps the most iconic Bentley of the period is the 4.5 liter "Blower Bentley", with its distinctive supercharger projecting forward from the bottom of the grille. Uncharacteristically fragile for a Bentley, however, it was not the racing workhorse that the 6 liter Bentley was, but became famous in the popular media as the vehicle of both James Bond in the original novels, and John Steed in the television series The Avengers.

A great deal of Barnato's fortune went to keeping Bentley afloat and he eventually became chairman; the Great Depression destroyed demand for the company's expensive products, and it was finally sold off to Rolls-Royce in 1931. It should be noted that Bentley was a very serious competitor to Rolls-Royce and that the 8 liter Bentley was probably a better machine than anything Rolls-Royce at that time had to offer.

Early Bentleys

• Bentley 3 Litre
• Bentley 4 1/2 Litre
• Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Supercharged (Blower)
• Bentley Speed Six
• Bentley 8 Litre

Bentleys of the Rolls Royce era

Rolls Royce merged the Bentley line into its own, so that the Bentley marque became just a Rolls Royce without the distinctive grill and with a $300 lower price tag. In the 1980s, however, Bentley became a separate, high performance car line once again. The most notable car in the Rolls-Royce period was probably the Bentley Continental, which appeared in various forms from 1952 to 1965, and again in 1992 with production ending in 2003. For more on Bentley Motors from 1931 to 1998, see Rolls-Royce.

• 1955-1959 Bentley S1
• 1959-1962 Bentley S2
• 1962-1965 Bentley S3
• 1965-1980 Bentley T-series
• 1971-1984 Bentley Corniche
• 1980-1987 Bentley Mulsanne
• 1984-1992 Bentley Eight
• 1985-1995 Bentley Turbo R
• 1992-1997 Bentley Brooklands
• 1996-2002 Bentley Continental R and T

Volkswagen Group ownership

In 1998, Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motors was purchased from Vickers (its owner since 1980) by Volkswagen for £430 million, after bidding against BMW. BMW had recently started supplying components for the new range of cars, notably V8 engines for the Bentley Arnage and V12 engines for the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph. The Rolls-Royce name was not included in VW's purchase; it was instead licensed to BMW (for £40 million) by the Rolls-Royce aero engine company.

BMW and Volkswagen came to an agreement whereby Volkswagen would manufacture both Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars until the end of 2002, whereupon the right to build Rolls-Royce cars would be BMW's alone. During this period, Volkswagen reduced its reliance on BMW as a supplier: as of 2003, BMW engines are not used in Bentley cars.

Modern Bentleys

In 2003, Bentley's 2-door convertible, the Bentley Azure, ceased production, and the company introduced the Continental GT, a large luxury coupe. The car is powered by a version of VW's W-12 engine. Demand has been so great that the factory at Crewe, Cheshire, has been unable to satisfy demand despite producing 4,500 vehicles a year and there is a waiting list of over a year for new cars to be delivered. Consequently there are proposals to produce the new model Flying Spur, a four-door version of the Continental GT (140.000 Euros) in Dresden in the same factory where the VW Phaeton luxury car is made. In April, 2005, Bentley confirmed plans to produce a 4-seat convertible model, the Azure, derived from the Arnage Drophead Coupe prototype, at Crewe beginning in 2006. By the fall of 2005, the convertible version of the successful Continental GT, the Continental GTC was also presented.

• 1998+ Arnage saloon
• 2002 State Limousine
• 2003+ Continental GT coupe
• 2005+ Continental Flying Spur saloon
• 2006+ Azure convertible
• 2006+ Continental GTC convertible

Current Bentley racing

In 2001-2003, the Bentley Speed 8 enjoyed a successful racing streak in the Le Mans series.

See also

• List of automobile manufacturers

External links

• Bentley Motors

• Bentley Motors Media Relations
• Yahoo! - Bentley Motors Inc. Company Profile
• Archives of K.-J. Roßfeldt

• Stadioscope mirrors for WO Bentleys

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