What brand of car is Bentley?
1 Answers
Bentley is a British car brand, also known as Bentley. It belongs to the Volkswagen Group, which acquired Bentley in 1997, placing it under the umbrella of Volkswagen AG in Germany. The letter 'B' in the center of the Bentley logo stands for the first letter of the name of Bentley's founder, Bentley, serving primarily as a tribute to the designer. Bentley accessories and decorations add more personalized elements to Bentley cars, many of which come from the Crewe design team, ensuring the embodiment of the design style of each Bentley model. Bentley's Development History: Mr. Walter Owen Bentley, commonly referred to as 'W.O.,' was once an apprentice at the Great Northern Railways in the UK. During World War I, he was responsible for designing engines for Camel aircraft and sniper fighters. At the 1919 motor show, he introduced the Bentley 3.0 car named after himself, embarking on a journey of professional sports car and racing car design. Over the next decade, Bentley almost won every famous Le Mans 24-hour endurance race. After World War II, Bentley welcomed new development opportunities. In 1946, Bentley launched the left-hand drive version of the MK6, the first left-hand drive model produced by Bentley, indicating Bentley's focus on foreign markets. In 1933, the first Bentley-designed car, produced by Rolls-Royce, was unveiled, named the 'Bentley 3.5.' In 1946, after the end of World War II, Bentley's car production line moved to Crewe, England. By then, Rolls-Royce and Bentley had been divided into two independent brands. That same year, Bentley introduced the Bentley Mark VI sedan, designed by Ivan Evernden, which achieved great success in the market. In 1952, the Bentley R-Type was introduced, replacing the Mark VI. It featured a 4.6L straight-six gasoline engine with a cast-iron block and aluminum cylinder head, paired with a four-speed manual transmission, reaching a top speed of 163 km/h and accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 13.1 seconds. Its fuel consumption was 18.2L per 100 km. British car magazine Autocar dubbed it the 'Modern Magic Car.' After 1990, Rolls-Royce decided to strengthen the Bentley brand. In June 1998, BMW lost the bid for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars to Volkswagen. On July 28, BMW purchased the Rolls-Royce trademark and logo. Starting in 2002, Bentley replaced Rolls-Royce as the British royal family's designated car brand and became the official vehicle for Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee celebrations. In 2003, Bentley's two-door GT car, the Azure, was discontinued. In 2005, Volkswagen launched the Continental Flying Spur, a 5.3-meter-long luxury car with the same powertrain as the Continental GT, sharing its chassis with the Volkswagen Phaeton on the Phaeton's exclusive production line in Wolfsburg, Germany. In 2006, the convertible version of the Continental GT was released, with Volkswagen hoping to boost overall sales through the Continental series. In 2009, Bentley once again introduced a model named 'Brooklands,' a two-door version of the Bentley Arnage, limited to 550 units. However, the final sales did not reach this number, with only 462 units sold.