Category: Bentley

Bentley announces 120g/km CO2 by 2012
Bentley has surprised the industry by announcing that its future model will comply with the future 2012 EU regulation, 120g/km CO2 emission.
The statement is rather bold at at time when the company’s fleet average is around 400g of CO2 per km. Bentley sales and marketing director Stuart McCullough said that the carmaker planned to have its entire range capable of running on renewable fuels, to launch a new engine which will deliver a 40 per cent improvement in fuel economy and to design lighter cars.
While the intention is laudable, the 2012 mark is coming quickly. How will the carmaker be able to renew its entire range before 2012?
McCullough also announced that the company expects to go beyond 10,000 unitss per year. He said that “Wealth is growing and within a few years there will be 11 million high net-worth people globally with a combined purchasing power of $50-60 trillion.” The Crewe factory is currently running to capacity on its two shifts. By adding a third shift, Bentley would increase its production capacity to 15,000 vehicles per year.
March 10, 2008
Zagato unveils the Bentley GTZ
Italian coachbuilder Zagato will unveil its latest creation, the Bentley GTZ, at Geneva this week.
The GTZ comes with the company’s design DNA such as the concave roof, the rounded aft and a contrasting painting scheme. The GTZ adds new taillights and flared wheelarches. It also features a hand-shaped aluminium body. The GTZ is based on the Bentley GT Speed and no technical changes have been operated. That means the coupé is powered by the 6.0-litre W12 petrol engine.
The GTZ concept car isn’t intended for production although it might be built in a limited number if there is a demand that can cover the project costs.
March 3, 2008
Chinese car luxury market boom

Bentley has sold 338 cars in China and Hong Kong last year, a 93 percent increase over 2006 while Rolls Royce sold 106 vehicles on the Chinese market.
Mainland China represents an critical market for the two carmakers. For Bentley China became its fifth market after the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. Bentley sold 2,079 vehicles in the UK and 4,196 unit in the US last year.
Rolls Royce records a similar trend as China became its third largest market last year. The Iconic brand sold 1,100 cars in 2007.
With the rise of India, Asia will become the largest market for the two brands in the next ten years. Soon, the two carmakers might unveil their next models not, in Detroit or in Geneva, but at Delhi, Beijing or Shanghai.
February 19, 2008
Future Bentleys might be powered by diesel

Volkswagen is seriously considering fitting diesel engines in future Bentley models as marketing director Adrian Hallmark revealed in an interview with AutoTelegraaf.
He said customers enjoy the high torque and low rev of Bentley’s engines which is perfectly matched a diesel engine. The company has the choice inside the engine range of Volkswagen group. There is the 5.0-litre unit powering the Phaeton and the Touareg while a V12 is featured in the Audi Q7.
Using diesel engine would help the brand to lower the CO2 emission fleet average and would also lower the fleet average consumption. Rolls Royce is also considering adopting the same solution as BMW is currently working on a twin-turbocharged V8 unit.
February 17, 2008
VW Group to develop four new platforms

In an interview given to Automotive News Europe, VW brand board member for development, Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg revealed that Volkswagen group will release four new platforms in the coming years in order to achieve the 2018 target. With those new platforms, the German carmaker expects to reduce its cost by 40% thanks to components shared between the platforms and development times by one year.
The most important platform will be the MQB which will underpin up to 6 million vehicles every year. The platform will be flexible enough to equip a large range of vehicles from small cars to upper-premium models. According to some insiders, the MQB platform will be used as in many as 20 different models.
The second platform, dubbed MHB, will be featured by the new VW’s rear-engine models, which will be sold over the world as a low cost model. Once again, one does expect to see the platform underpinning a few million vehicles. At the opposite of the range, the luxury models will have their own platform already used by the Audi A4 and A5. Dubbed MLB, it features a longitudinally mounted engine for front-drive and all-wheel-drive transmissions. The next A6 and A8 models will use the MLB platform. The future Phaeton and Bentley models will likely use the same underpinnings.
Finally, a fourth platform will be devoted to sports cars and will be used by the future Lamborghini models and the Audi R8.
With this new platform range, Volkswagen plans to increase sales from 5.7 million vehicles in 2006 to 10 million cars in 2018.
November 27, 2007
Sales record for Bentley

There was a time when Bentley could barely sell its cars. Then, almost ten years ago, Volkswagen bought Bentley. Since then and the launch of the Continental GT, the British carmaker has broken its sales records every year. 2007 promises to be the best year yet. Indeed, Bentley sold 5,600 cars in the first semester or 2007, 18.8% more than the previous year over the same period. But the most impressive is the March sales figures. Bentley sold 1,200 cars in one month. With an entry-level starting at £117,500, it is hard to imagine.
Thanks to its sales, the company reported a turn over of 739 million euros and a record profit of 85 million euros compared to 26 million euros in the first half of 2006. The company met growing demand in Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as significant demand in emerging markets such as China and Russia.
August 3, 2007