On the cold wet evening of Monday 11th November, we had the benefit of an excellent presentation on the 100 year history of Bentley Motors by Paul Jones – Chairman of the I.Mech.E. Automobile Division.
The talk was held at John Moores University and light refreshments were served prior to the talk.
Walter Owen Bentley (commonly known as W O) started building cars in North London during 1919. From the very start W O Bentley’s interest was in making fast cars.
Paul took us through the often turbulent history of the company. All of the cars produced were seen to be based on 3 key mantras. Cars that were FAST, LUXGURIOUS & THE BEST.
During the 1920’s significant developments were made in car designs for racing, in particular aimed at the LeMans 24hr race. Between 1923 & 1930 Bentley won the race 5 times. The Wall Street crash of 1929 combined with the costs of racing lead the company into receivership and Bentley was acquired by Rolls Royce during 1931.
In 1946 manufacturing was moved to the current site at Crewe, at which time Bentley produced their first complete car (upto then they had manufactured a Chassis with a separate Coach Builder providing the body). Paul explained how during the time of Rolls Royce ownership Bentley failed to differentiate itself from Rolls Royce and nearly vanished as a result.
Since being taken over by Volkswagen in 1998 and separated from Rolls Royce, Bentley has enjoyed massive investment and has gone from strength to strength. Between 2002 – 2004 production increased 10 fold from 700 – 7000 cars per year. Bentley returned to LeMans racing in 2001 and won in 2003. In 2002 Bentley were commissioned to build a Royal Limousine, the first ever non Rolls Royce.
Paul explained how the product range has evolved with some spectacular statistics such as the 3rd Generation Continental GT. A luxury car capable of carrying 4 passengers + luggage with a top speed of 207mph and 0 – 60 in 3.6 Secs.
Paul concluded by discussing the current range of vehicles including the rationale behind introducing the SUV range. This is unique in being a true luxury car that is capable of Off Road performance aimed at a global market. He explained that the current success of Bentley was based on the same 3 mantras Speed, Luxury and The Best. We also learned about compact Engine technology and the “W” engine and were introduced to engineering technologies such as “Torque Vectoring”.
In conclusion we heard about the future expansion of Engineering education and development on the Crewe site. With regard to future vehicles Paul explained that by 2022 all Bentley cars will be available in a Plug in Hybrid version and by 2015 Bentley will offer an Electric vehicle.
The evening concluded with a lively question and answer session
John Pollard
I.Mech.E. Regional Chairman – Merseyside and N Wale