In the UK, the two signature symbols of opulent motoring are without doubt Bentley and Rolls-Royce, a pair of brands renowned across the world for their luxury and very British heritage – despite, ironically, both being under German ownership.
The two brands have spent most of their histories closely intertwined. After a glorious beginning based on its 1920s racing exploits, Bentley was bought by Rolls-Royce and, for many years, lived in the shadow of its parent brand.
The saviour of Bentley proved to be a complicated acquisition deal and a bidding war over Rolls-Royce Motors (which included Bentley) between Volkswagen and BMW. This ultimately resulted in BMW taking Rolls-Royce and Volkswagen owning Bentley, and for the first time in decades, the two sibling British brands became rivals. Volkswagen rejuvenated Bentley by reaffirming its luxury credentials while also highlighting one of its oldest traits: high performance.
Today, Bentley again has a top-notch worldwide reputation for cars that are beautifully constructed to the exact requirements of their owners, and which can perform with the very best – it may be German-owned, but Bentley today is considered as a very special British brand.
So who or what is Bentley?
Wilfred Owen Bentley, known as W.O., began his automotive career before the first world war, selling French cars in north London with his brother.
After developing lightweight aluminium parts for aeroplane engines during the war, Bentley launched his own car company, Bentley Motors, with the first cars going on sale in 1921. The new Bentleys immediately found favour with racing drivers who appreciated their durability, winning many races in England and competing at the Indianapolis 500 in America. Bentley also won the famous Le Mans 24 Hours race five times in seven years between 1924 and 1930.
Despite building up an enviable reputation for its racing cars and upmarket road machines, Bentley hit financial trouble in the 1920s. W.O. Bentley sold the business to one of his racing driver customers, Woolf Barnato, but respite was only temporary as the Great Depression at the end of the 1920s nearly destroyed the expensive car market. On the brink of closure, Bentley was acquired by rival premium manufacturer Rolls-Royce.
Rolls-Royce moved Bentley’s operations from north London to its premises in Derby, and all Bentley cars for the next 70 years were basically reworked Rolls-Royce models. After the second world war, production moved to a new factory in Crewe that had been built to manufacture Rolls-Royce Merlin aero engines for the Spitfire fighter and Lancaster bomber planes.
After the war, most Rolls-Royce and Bentley models moved to standard steel bodies, produced by Pressed Steel in Oxford, although customers could still specify custom coachbuilt bodies for more exclusive models. This practice survived until the mid-1960s, with many custom Bentley and Rolls-Royce designs built by a company called Mulliner & Co. This company ended up being bought by Rolls-Royce, and the Mulliner name is still used by Bentley today for its bespoke services that allows customers to tailor their cars individually.
By the arrival of the 1970s, Rolls-Royce was in major financial trouble and the car company was split from the aerospace business. The Bentley brand became very much neglected, at one point accounting for just 5% of Rolls-Royce’s total sales. Rolls-Royce Motors was sold to manufacturing conglomerate Vickers in 1980, with the new owners putting more investment into Bentley with more differentiation from Rolls-Royce models and higher-performance cars like the Mulsanne. By the early 1990s, Bentley production equalled those of Rolls-Royce – although that was also partly due to a steady decline in Rolls-Royce sales over the 1980s.
By 1997, Vickers put Rolls-Royce Motors up for sale, initially negotiating with BMW before Volkswagen swept in with a bid that was 25% more than BMW was offering. Except it wasn’t that simple.
As a result of the complicated breaking up of Rolls-Royce into an aerospace company and an automotive company in the 1970s, Volkswagen did end up buying Rolls-Royce Motors (which included Bentley), but the rights to use the name “Rolls-Royce” were still held by the aerospace company – a fact that still causes public confusion to this day.
BMW promptly did a deal to license the Rolls-Royce name, leaving Volkswagen with all the physical company assets, trademarks and the Bentley name, but not the name of the company it had just bought. Oh, and all of Bentley’s engines were supplied by BMW…
Intense negotiations between Volkswagen and BMW followed, as both parties had spent a lot of money but neither was able to build any cars. Eventually, they agreed that Volkswagen would get Bentley and BMW would get Rolls-Royce, and temporary arrangements were put in place to keep the current models in production until both sides were ready to finalise the split.
Volkswagen immediately poured £500 million of investment into modernising the ageing Crewe factory to be ready for the launch of its first model under new ownership, the 2003 Continental GT coupé. Today, Crewe is basically a posh assembly plant with most crucial components shipped in from other parts of the vast Volkswagen empire.
The new Continental GT and subsequent models proved to be hugely successful, with annual production growing from around 400 cars in 1998 to around 10,000 cars in 2007. Despite a slump following the financial crash of the late 2000s, Bentley recovered in the 2010s as the range expanded to include the Bentayga, a luxury SUV that is now the brand’s best-selling model.
Bentley now faces its next challenge as it adapts to the electric age. The company has introduced plug-in hybrid power across all its models, and its first electric model is set to appear in 2027. From there, a new hybrid or fully electric car will be launched each year under plans to be an electric-only brand by 2035.
What models does Bentley have and what else is coming?
Bentley currently has a four-strong model range, comprising a saloon, a coupé, a convertible and an SUV.
The core of the Bentley range since 2003 has been the Continental GT, a large 2+2 coupe. The current third-generation model was launched in 2017 and underwent a significant update in 2023. Once boasting a potent 12-cylinder petrol engine, it is now powered by a V8 plug-in hybrid unit instead.
If you prefer your large two-door model with a folding soft-top roof, the Continental GTC is your car. The electrically folding roof is impressively quiet, but it cuts the already limited boot space by half.
The Flying Spur is Bentley’s flagship saloon, evolving into that role since the demise of the Mulsanne saloon in 2020. Originally seen as little more than a stretched GT, the latest third-generation model has a more individual identity. Although praised for its sheer opulence, the current Flying Spur received criticism for its poor standard safety equipment. This was addressed in a major update carried out in 2024.
Finally, the Bentayga SUV first appeared in 2015, initially to some scepticism at the time as to whether Bentley customers would want to drive an SUV – especially as its styling was most politely described as “challenging”. However, most luxury brands have since entered the SUV market, and a 2023 update has softened the Bentayga’s appearance to some degree. Inside, it certainly matches the Flying Spur saloon for comfort and luxury.
Current Bentley range on our Expert Rating Index
The next new Bentley is expected to be an all-electric ‘urban SUV’ launching in 2026 or 2027. It will be one of ten new or updated EV and plug-in hybrid models being launched up until 2035 as part of the company’s ‘Beyond 100+’ programme – though this was actually a scaling back of the original announcement in 2020 that aimed to make Bentley EV-only by 2030.
Where can I try a Bentley car?
You will not find a Bentley showroom on typical motor alleys. This is a very high-end manufacturer that sells only around 1,000 cars a year in the UK from a network of just 16 dealerships.
Some are standalone, while others are part of upmarket multi-franchise sites alongside brands like Lamborghini, Maserati and Lotus. Each showroom is very plush, as you’d expect. Specifying an individual Bentley is an extended process of finishes, colours and equipment – customers are made very comfortable as they spend at least £200,000…
What makes Bentley different to the rest?
A Bentley is something more than a very upmarket performance car – it’s not too strong a statement to describe the cars as crafted rather than built, a view proven by taking one of the popular tours of the Crewe works run particularly for intending customers.
These tours always include the wood shop, where the door is thrown open to the storage area and participants immediately hit by the aroma of the various veneers. Also popular is the leather shop, where teams of staff sit patiently hand-stitching steering wheels, dash panels and such like.
With customers choosing every aspect of their car, and intricate attention to detail going into creating it, it’s fair to say that no two Bentleys are the same.
A Bentley fact to impress your friends
Bentley’s Mulliner division creates bespoke interior finishes for customers and claims to be able to incorporate virtually any image or design idea into the finished trim – right up to an individual family crest with perhaps 20,000 stitches.
This attention to detail even extends to such extras as child seats – Bentley makes its own and they are trimmed in exactly the same finish as the car they are being fitted to.
Summary
Bentley has emerged from a sometimes troubled history to become one of the most highly regarded brands of today. Its cars are considered special, both for the attention to detail that goes into building them and the potency they display. While remaining old-school and traditional in a rapidly changing automotive world, a Bentley is still a car that many dream of driving one day.
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