Bentley pages

BENTLEY MOTORS

Bentley Motors is the world-famous maker of luxury, hand-crafted high
performance cars.
Our founder, W.O Bentley, set out his ambition 90 years ago: ‘To build a
good car, a fast car, the best in its class’. It is a philosophy the Company
has followed passionately ever since.
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It was in the 1920s that the marque was defined: countless victories at
Le Mans and Brooklands, the Bentley Boys and their glamorous soirees
on the French Riviera. The likes of Woolf Barnato, John Duff and Tim
Birkin created the Bentley legend and it is this colourful heritage and
spirit of excitement that still infuses the brand today.
The story of the Bentley Boys is a fascinating one and is often
chronicled. What is less well known is the Company today. How many
know that Bentley is the world’s biggest luxury car company? That it is
a full automotive producer – designing, developing and manufacturing
all its cars in Britain? That it has over 140 dealerships in 60 countries
world-wide? Or that it is one of the most successful luxury goods
brands, with sales that increased 10-fold over just 10 years?
The renaissance of Bentley began in 1998, when it became part
of Volkswagen Group. This provided access to financial and technical
resources that were not previously available. As a result, more than
£1 billion was invested in Bentley and its Crewe headquarters making
the facility fit for the 21st century.
That investment transformed the fortunes of the Company.
The combination of performance, luxury and craftsmanship were
matched to modern technology and engineering excellence,
strengthening the reputation of the cars and the Company as a whole.
A string of new products were introduced starting first with the
now-iconic Continental GT, broadening the marque’s appeal to new
customers all over the world. More recently it resulted in the new
Mulsanne – the flagship that encompasses everything for which Bentley
stands; a car we believe to be the very pinnacle of British motoring.
Yet while the Pyms Lane factory in Crewe has changed physically,
it remains dependent on the skills and craftsmanship of the people
who work there, some for generations. Today Bentley Motors draws
customers, enthusiasts and many other visitors from around the world.
This publication is designed to give an insight into that experience,
to tell the story of Bentley the Company – the plant, the products, the
people. We remain very proud of our history and heritage as well as
being confident about our future as a global automotive manufacturer.
We hope that the following pages will explain why.
Photography: Nick Dimbleby, Dominic Fraser,
Charlie Magee & David Shepherd
Thank you for your interest.
Bentley Motors
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BENTLEY
History of Bentley
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BENTLEY
THE ORIGINS
W.O described his designs as ‘fast, sporting cars that are also comfortable and civilised’.
The ‘Bentley Boys’ helped
drive the company to
success in the 1920s
W.O Bentley
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Although Bentley famously won the gruelling
Le Mans 24 Hour race five times between
1924 and 1930, in the early days the company
was not in a strong financial position. It was
supported from 1926 to 1931 by the chairman
Woolf Barnato, one of the wealthy ‘Bentley
Boys’ – a group of social celebrities and amateur
racing drivers who drove Bentley to success
in the 1920s. Their new interpretation of the
historic ‘Grand Tour’ developed Bentley’s
reputation for ‘grand touring’, as they travelled
across Europe, relishing the thrill of motoring.
Their endeavours ranged from the Le Mans
24 Hour Race to racing one of the fastest trains
of the day – the Blue Train from the French
Riviera to Calais.
After the heady days of the 1920s, Bentley
went into administration in 1931. The company
was acquired by Rolls-Royce and for the next
70 years Britain’s two most prestigious car
marques were run in parallel.
Kidston and Barnato at Le Mans, 1930

BENTLEY HISTORY
Bentley R-Type Continental
Rolls-Royce and Bentley car production
moved to Crewe in 1946. The site in Pyms
Lane was built in 1938 to produce Rolls-
Royce Merlin engines for military aircraft
and played an important part in equipping
Allied forces in World War II. The first postwar
Bentley, the MkVI, was the first to offer
a standard steel body supplied complete
from the factory; all pre-war Bentleys had
been sold in rolling chassis form and bodied
by independent coachbuilders. The most
significant of the early Bentleys to be built at
Crewe was the R-Type Continental in 1952.
At the time, its top speed of 120mph made
it the world’s fastest four-seat production car.
Its elegant, flowing, two-door body was the
inspiration for the first new model produced
under Volkswagen’s ownership.
The first Bentley with unitary construction
(body and chassis as one piece) was the
T-series of 1965, sister model of the
Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. At the time,
Bentley lived in the shadow of Rolls-Royce;
T-series sales amounted to less than 10 per
cent of the Shadow’s.
Bentley flowered once again as a sporting
marque with the introduction of the 140mph
Mulsanne Turbo in 1982. The stalwart
6.75 litre V8 engine, which had been introduced
in 1959, was boosted to 300 horsepower by
fitting a turbocharger. The name referred
to Bentley’s former glories; Mulsanne is the
village near Le Mans at the end of the circuit’s
5.5km Hunaudières straight.
Bentley Mark VI
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BENTLEY
JEWEL IN THE CROWN
A new partnership with Volkswagen
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Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Cars was
merged with the Vickers engineering group in
1980. The Crewe factory assembled the cars,
trimmed and finished them with the finest
leather and wood veneer, and built the V8
engine – which, in a very different form, still
powers the latest Mulsanne.
With the introduction of the Bentley Arnage
in 1998, the tables were turned. Bodyshell
production was brought in-house and, for
a period, engines out-sourced, requiring
significant changes to the Crewe facilities and
re-training of many of its technicians.
In 1998 Vickers sold Rolls-Royce and Bentley
Motors. BMW bought Rolls-Royce, while the
Volkswagen Group bought Bentley Motors,
including its historic Crewe factory and the
unique skills of its craftsmen.
Ferdinand Piëch, the chairman of Volkswagen
at the time, described Bentley as the ‘jewel
in the crown’ of the automotive group.
He promised a major expansion, with a range
of cars of a new type and at a price point
below the traditional Bentleys, designed
to appeal to a new generation of customers.
The result was the Continental GT coupé,
introduced in 2003, and the remodelling of the
Crewe works.
The company became Bentley Motors
Limited officially on 16 September 2002, to
coincide with W.O Bentley’s birthday.
The company’s new owners had a vision for
a ‘mid-sized’ Bentley which could increase
production to 9,000 cars a year. The design of
MSB, as it came to be called, was to take place
at Crewe.
The Continental GT was designed to appeal to a
new generation
To accommodate the design process, the
engineering team at Crewe was increased
from 200 to 550, and the design studio was
extensively enhanced. The physical changes
at Crewe were also extensive; 400 contractors
worked over 18 months to modernise and
re-equip the buildings, some of which had
hardly changed since 1938. Most car factories
are what the motor industry calls ‘screwdriver
plants’, assembling cars from parts developed
and produced elsewhere. The plan was to make
the Crewe plant highly integrated, capable of
designing, developing and manufacturing all
parts of Bentley cars, including the engines.
Over £500 million was invested in the
re-design of the facilities at Crewe. The
30,000m 3 main assembly hall was adapted
into a new production line for the Continental
series and kitted out with the latest tools,
conveyor and materials handling systems.
A smaller, more labour-intensive line to one
side of the Continental line builds the larger
cars at a slower pace.
By the time production of the Continental GT
started, the Crewe workforce had increased
to over 3,000. Many existing staff had to be
re-trained for new skills and tasks.
For the introduction of the new Mulsanne in
2010, Bentley has constructed a new bodyshop.
Making high-precision bodies in low volume
requires special skills and the new bodyshop
has a suite of machinery that combines
automation with individual craftsmanship.

BENTLEY HISTORY
Bentley workers fitting the undertray onto a Continental GT Diamond series – one of a limited edition of cars to celebrate 60 years of building Bentleys at Crewe
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BENTLEY
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Bentley has always stood for first-class engineering, as the fine cars of its past testify.
A large percentage of all the Bentleys ever made still exist; a tribute to W.O and his successors.
Today, Bentley is the third largest Research and
Development (R&D) investor in the UK’s automotive
sector 1 and the 18th largest nationally. Even though it
manufactures far fewer vehicles than many of the volume
car producers, everything from engineering and research to
styling and design, takes place in Crewe.
R&D activities range from engine improvement to
reducing carbon emissions and other pollutants to research
into new materials such as composites which are helping to
reduce weight and improve safety and durability.
There is no better way to illustrate the R&D journey
at Bentley than to follow the development of the new
Continental GT which began in 2002.
The Continental GT brought a step change for design and
development at Crewe.
As well as increasing manpower and improving facilities,
there was a complete overhaul of the development
process. For the first time, Bentley adopted simultaneous
engineering, where all the key aspects of the design are
agreed at the outset and progress in parallel.
Simultaneous engineering is altogether more efficient than
the traditional step-by-step progression used previously,
saving both time and money. It is directed by a project
team which puts specialists for exterior and interior
design, chassis, powertrain, electrical and whole vehicle
engineering alongside purchasing, finance, manufacturing,
marketing, quality and logistics.
Once it was agreed that the first of this new series of
Bentleys would be two-door, four-seat coupé, the styling
of what became the Continental GT was done entirely at
Crewe. Though a completely different concept from any
other car in the Bentley family, the design inspiration came
from the R-Type Continental from the 1950s.
The new Continental series would be the fastest road
going Bentley ever made, with a potential maximum
speed of 200mph. This was an immense task requiring the
adoption of all the latest safety and security systems, from
air bags to electronic stability control. In addition, the cars
were equipped with four-wheel drive, the largest and most
powerful brakes, and a very sophisticated air suspension
system. Close attention was paid to aerodynamics to ensure
stability at high speed; to reduce rear end lift and achieve
1. Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, 2010 R&D Scoreboard
aerodynamic balance, Bentley engineers developed an
underbody diffuser and a rear spoiler that automatically
deploys at motorway speeds.
As well as meeting Bentley’s (and Volkswagen’s) demanding
safety and quality standards, its new models would have
to comply with a raft of rules and regulations which differ
from country to country. It was an important principle that
any new Bentley be suitable, without modification, for all
world markets.
For the Continental range – where the Flying Spur saloon
and GTC convertible followed the GT coupé – 71 test
vehicles and 150 crash tests were required.
It is in these areas – testing, certification and aerodynamic
optimisation – where Bentley’s connection to the huge
resources of the Volkswagen Group pays off. The synergy
works both ways. While Bentley is able to benefit from
the Group’s experience – and its buying power for supplied
components and systems – engineers and production
specialists from associate companies want to visit Crewe
to learn the skills needed to create the world’s finest
car interiors.
Car engines have to meet regulations covering – among
other things – fuel consumption, exhaust emissions, noise
and durability.
For Bentley, the W12 – the ‘W’ describes what is, in effect,
two narrow-angle V6 engines on a common crankshaft
– was to be fitted with two turbochargers, new inlet and
exhaust systems, and many unique internal components as
well as the latest electronic management system.
Testing, certification
and aerodynamic
optimisation is where
Bentley’s connection to
the huge resources of the
Volkswagen Group pays off
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RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Bentley models are designed with all markets in mind
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Bentley Motors Limited, Pyms Lane, Crewe, Cheshire, CWI 3PL, England.
www.bentleymotors.com