Comments on: Bentley R.I.P.?

By: Stephan Wilkinson

Stephan Wilkinson — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:06:28 +0000

Wow, west and north of NYC… And I thought all we ever got was “West and north of the City, rain will change to a Wintery Mix, flooding, hail and major icing.”

By: speedlaw

speedlaw — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:48:53 +0000

In some of the moneyed burbs to the east, west and north of NYC, Bentley exists solely to make the statement ” I have too much money to drive a Mercedes or BMW “. You tend to see them in areas where the average car is one year old and the 3 series BMW equals the number of Corollas in other places.

A guy up the street has a Phaeton, tho, and was happy to hear it was built on the same assembly line with the Bentley.

By: jthorner

jthorner — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:04:25 +0000

whatdoiknow1:

Yes, I am quite aware of the history of Bentley. VAG actually bought and still uses the historic Rolls-Royce Crewe, England factory to build the Bentley. It is BMW that only got a name (Rolls-Royce) for it’s money. In many ways VW has been a better steward of the Bentley brand than Rolls-Royce ever was. Those many decades where a Bentley was simply a discounted Rolls are best forgotten.

That said, there is no good reason VW Group couldn’t use Bentley to showcase next generation technology. I agree that putting a best in class diesel option on the current model would certainly be a step in the right direction. Even posers want bragging rights about fuel economy. Think of all those Hollywood types who can afford anything and are stuck driving a Prius to demonstrate their great care and concern.

By: wsn

wsn — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:33:49 +0000

Not sure about Bentley. But early Rolls Royce cars were famous for the reliable engine (of that day). That’s where Lexus is at now.

Car making technology is always at the center of a car company. If a company losses its technological edge, it will deteriorate. Then it will only sell its heritage and its so called class. And then it will die. The carcass maybe bought, or maybe not.

All of the British brands went that way. Some of the German brands, VW in particular, are on their way.

By: sitting@home

sitting@home — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:15:27 +0000

Couldn’t Bentley circumvent any EU CO2 regulations by simply not selling anything there ? There must be enough rap/porn stars and oil rich oligarchs in the rest of the world to support their limited production numbers.

By: quasimondo

quasimondo — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:58:20 +0000

Would anybody who has buckets of cash even be willing to look at a diesel Bentley?

By: willbodine

willbodine — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:27:22 +0000

A short term strategy surely would be to introduce a V8 version of the Continental and Flying Spur. And even Diesels, since the VAG ones are so civilized.

By: driving course

driving course — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:19:44 +0000

The VW crew could always combine two pieces of Le Mans history – Bentley success of old and more recently the Audi R10 diesel victory.
200 mph, a leather and walnut interior with an engine running on olive oil… what could be smoother for the future of Bentley!

By: blautens

blautens — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:19:33 +0000

Used, low mileage, Bentley bargains are incredibly easy to come by in Palm Beach County, thanks to the island itself…but I’m still waiting for a sub $20k Phaeton.

By: whatdoiknow1

whatdoiknow1 — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:40:33 +0000

jthorner :

Let be honest here and accept the fact that “Bentley” in reality is only a glorified name purchase by VAG so they can make use of existing platforms and technology and re-package it in a extra flashy over-priced “fashion-mobile”.

VAG did not purchase the “Bentley” name to actually create state of the art automobiles. It has been well over 50 years since anything with the Bentley name on it was actually “cutting-edge”. The reality is that Bentley for the majority of it history only served as a means of selling lower-priced Rolls Royces without the grill.

I believe the majority of “real” enthuasist know this fact and that is why so many of those Bentley/VW/Audi things are found gracing used car lots and ghetto car washes around my neck of the woods.

By: jthorner

jthorner — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:21:57 +0000

Traditionally, expensive new technologies start on the highest priced cars and then move down. Why not make the next generation Bentley a masterpiece of carbon fiber and aluminum construction and power it by an electric based drive-train along with an ICE booster engine along the lines of the Volt architecture? The thing could be made extremely silent running by boxing the ICE booster in a sound absorbing box. Perhaps synthesized vroom-vroom sounds would be needed to recreate the old world experience much like many digital cameras make a faux-shutter sound. Optional vroom-tones for only $1000 each could round out the profit picture :).

Surely it is easier to make a $200,000 vehicle incorporating next generation propulsion technologies than it is to make a $25,000 one.