Bentley Launches China-Only Continental Flying Spur "Linley" Special Edition

China is quickly becoming the ideal place to launch bespoke (…and higher-priced) special edition versions for luxury carmakers. The latest example is Bentley, which will sell just 10 Continental Flying Spurs created in cooperation with British design company Linley.

The Linley limited edition will only be available in what is now Bentley’s biggest market in the world. According to the British carmaker, it “incorporates signature Linley elements that will appeal to customers who value pedigree, lineage, handcrafted quality and peerless design”.

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Posted on 07.14 / 0 comments / Read More

IAA 2011: Bentley’s New Continental GTC offers Open-Top Luxury Cruising

The convertible version of the updated Continental GT luxury coupe was Bentley’s main attraction at the 64th Frankfurt Motor Show. The heavily refreshed Continental GTC is naturally based on its fixed-roof sibling, with its lines being more sculpted than the outgoing model and the front featuring a new grille and headlights. Read more »

Posted on 10.52 / 0 comments / Read More

Bentley Motors to Auction Unique Collector's Items Including a Table Made from the Mulsanne's V8

An array of one-off items created by artisans from the tooling, woodshop and styling teams at Bentley Motors are heading to the auction block to raise money for The Prince’s Trust, which is a youth charity that provides practical and financial support to 14 to 30-year-olds.

The graduates from Bentley Motors have handcrafted a variety of collector's items ranging from display objects such as a chess-set with pieces tooled from aluminium set on a veneered board, to an impressive table created from a polished V8 engine from the Mulsanne and a cutlery-set engraved with the Bentley emblem commissioned by Robert Welch.

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Posted on 07.11 / 0 comments / Read More

Bentley CEO Confirms SUV and Smaller Four-Seat Sports Car

The above photo is not the actual Bentley SUV but a rendering from the Xenatec Group

At the recent Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance event in Monterey, California, Bentley boss Wolfgang Duerheimer told reporters that the British luxury carmaker is indeed looking to add an SUV model to its range, confirming earlier reports.

Duerheimer went into more details revealing that the crossover model would utilize the platform architecture as well as other hardware from the Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7 models.

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Posted on 15.31 / 0 comments / Read More

Privé London Dining Club Receives a Splash of Bentley Style

Mosimann’s, an exclusive dining club located in the heart of Belgravia in central London, has opened the doors to a new privé room inspired by, and dedicated to, luxury British carmaker Bentley.

The dining room for the rich but not necessarily famous, blends traditional British styling with unique Bentley accents. It is the work of Caulder Moore, which also designed the Bentley Living Room at the company’s headquarters in Crewe, in 2010, and can seat 14 people with standing room for 28.

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Posted on 06.25 / 0 comments / Read More

Bentley Shows New Continental GTC to the World

We've been following the development of the 2012 Bentley Continental GTC for some time now, but today, the British company released the first official photos of the redesigned convertible that will debut at next month’s International Automobile Exhibition (IAA) in Frankfurt.

The exterior and interior styling changes won't come to as a surprise to anyone that has seen the Continental GT coupe, launched about a year ago. On the outside, the GTC gains a new face inspired by the larger Mulsanne with a different grille and gemstone headlights, as well as crispier lines throughout.

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Posted on 05.24 / 0 comments / Read More

Oops…2012 Bentley Continental GTC Breaks Out Early

The first official photos and details of the revamped Bentley Continental GTC convertible are out in the open, courtesy of Autoblog.com, which apparently received a little love from the German-owned-and-controlled British automaker with the early distribution of the press material.

While the website hastily removed the premature post, someone forgot to pull down the photos, which you can check out in all their glory by clicking here (we don't know for how long).

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Posted on 13.52 / 0 comments / Read More

World's Oldest Production Bentley Sells for Just Under a $1 Million at Pebble Beach

The world’s oldest surviving Bentley, the 1921 "chassis number 3", found a new owner at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elecance Gooding & Co. auction for $962,500 – or $960,606 more than what the car's first owner, Noel Van Raalte, paid for it 90 years ago (£ 1,150, or $1,984 in today’s exchange rate). Read more »

Posted on 13.49 / 0 comments / Read More

10 Luxury Cars of the Past You Can Afford to Buy Today

No matter what car you buy, its price will start depreciating from the moment you turn the ignition key and roll out of the showroom. Of course, not all models lose value at the same rate. But there are some cars that stand out more than others and Popular Mechanics has compiled a list with some of the most heavily depreciated vehicles in the luxury car segment.

And while this may not be the kind of news a seller wants to hear, it's music to the ears of buyers in the market for snazzy set of wheels. Just remember that regardless if the car is new or used, running costs remain the same, and when it comes to luxury models, be prepared to dig deep into your pockets.

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Posted on 17.51 / 0 comments / Read More

SCOOP: New Bentley Continental GT Speed getting Ready for its Frankfurt Date

Development on the next addition to the redesigned Bentley Continental range, the GT Speed, is reaching its end, and our spy photographers have just caught the coupe model wearing its new front end.

The changes over the standard Continental GT include the new front bumper that boasts larger openings, the 21-inch alloy wheels with a different design wrapped around chunkier 275/35 ZR21 Pirelli P-Zero rubber, and the bespoke tail pipes.

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Posted on 10.30 / 0 comments / Read More

Imperium to Craft One-Off Bentley Continental GT Special

Given the price of a Bentley Continental GT, it should not come to a surprise that some tuners prefer to offer their clients a more personal service when it comes to customizing their cars.

UK-based design house Imperium is one such example developing a one-off Continental GT at the request of an unnamed entrepreneur from Britain. Previewed here in a pair of renderings, we see that the tailored made coupe will feature bespoke bodywork with uniquely designed front and rear aprons, carbon exposed side skirts, a subtle boot lip spoiler and rear carbon fibre diffuser.

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Posted on 06.41 / 0 comments / Read More

Malignant Rumors: Bentley May Build a Super Luxurious SUV

There are some things in the auto industry that one takes for granted: Fiat is best known for its small cars like the Panda and Punto; Land Rover for its ultra-capable 4x4s like the Defender and the Disco and Ferrari for its glorious-sounding supercars.

In Bentley's case, it's the hand-crafted luxury coupes and sedans, but change is inevitable (especially if you operate under the umbrella of the VW Group…).

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Posted on 15.20 / 0 comments / Read More

SPIED: 2012 Bentley Continental GTC Speed

The upcoming 2012 Bentley Continental GTC Speed continues its…European tour as the British firm’s engineers have left the Alps and headed down to the Nurburgring racetrack for some high-speed tests. Read more »

Posted on 11.46 / 0 comments / Read More

Bentley Defies Crisis with a 20% Increase in Global Sales

Crisis? What crisis? For you and me, perhaps, but not for Bentley buyers. The VW-owned British luxury carmaker announced today a 20% increase in global sales for the first half of 2011 with 2,978 cars delivered to customers, the best start for the company since 2008. Read more »

Posted on 12.48 / 0 comments / Read More

2012 Bentley Continental GTC Speed Scooped in the Alps

Back in May, we saw Bentley trying out the drop-top version of its subtly evolved 2011 Continental GT, the GTC, at the Nurburgring racetrack. Now, our spies have spotted Bentley’s people working on the more athletic GTC Speed in the Alps.

Like the standard Continental GTC, the Speed shares the sharper styling cues of the coupe model launched last year adding a more aggressively designed front bumper with new openings, hood air vents and a discreet boot lid spoiler along with larger alloy wheels to the mix.

The GTC Speed will benefit from the revisions we saw on the coupe and which include a redesigned dashboard with an updated instrument panel and a new touch-screen interface plus new seats and trim materials.

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Posted on 15.31 / 0 comments / Read More

Bentley Launches Mulliner Styling Pack for Continental GT

Bentley’s new Continental GT is, without question, a coupe with imposing road presence. But the British firm wishes to offer its customers the opportunity to make their cars even more unique by launching a range of styling options named Mulliner Styling Specification Classic Pack.

This styling package consists of a front splitter, strakes integrated in the front intake grilles, side extension blades and a rear diffuser, all made from glossy black carbon-fibre.

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Posted on 13.05 / 0 comments / Read More

Investigators Uncover Multi-Million Pound Tax Scam in India; European Exotics, Foreign Diplomats and Bollywood Actors Involved

In what sounds more like the plot of a The Fast and the Furious movie than real life, investigators at India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence office (a.k.a. India’s IRS) have uncovered a massive exotic car smuggling operation in the nation’s capital of New Dehli. It all has to do with India’s notorious 100% import tax on new luxury vehicles.

It began with one New Dehli luxury car dealer, Sumit Walia, importing brand new luxury cars on forged invoices. These invoices listed the cars as second-hand, which saved Walia – and his customers – some 40% on import tax. Some of the cars – which included Porsches, Bentleys and Aston Martins – were found to have been stolen from the streets of Britain, France, Singapore and Japan.

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Posted on 12.11 / 0 comments / Read More

Take that Goodwood: Vilner’s Mini Cooper S Inspired by Bentley

The BMW Group’s decision to launch a new posh version of the Mini hatch called “Mini Inspired by Goodwood” motivated Bulgarian design studio Vilner to develop its own luxed-up variant of the British supermini. However, while the Goodwood model received the Rolls Royce touch, Vilner’s proposal tries to emulate a Bentley – at least in the interior.

Even though Vilner has baptized the car “The Italian Job” as homage to the famous movie, for obvious reasons, a more appropriate name would have been “Mini Inspired by Crewe”. The Bulgarian company has dressed the Mini hatchback’s interior with fine materials such as brown Nappa leather and Alcantara, with parts of the seats, door panels, dashboard and roof lining featuring a diamond shape theme. In addition, the doors have gained elements of black leather while the original plastic was re-sprayed in a sparkling gray finish.

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Posted on 10.27 / 0 comments / Read More

China Becomes Bentley's No. 2 Market after Record Breaking Q1 Sales

Bentley Motors sold 396 cars in Mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) in the first four months of 2011, an all-time record result for the Asian market. With this number, Bentley broke its previous record set just last year, by an amazing 66 percent increase in sales.

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Posted on 10.34 / 0 comments / Read More

SCOOP: 2012 Bentley Continental GTC Convertible Facelift Spotted Testing at the Nurburgring

We knew that Bentley was working on a revised version of its Continental GTC drop-top model after the introduction of the facelifted Continental GT coupe, and these fresh-from-the-Nurburgring spy shots are here to prove it.

Following the example of its coupe sibling that was unveiled in facelifted form at last year’s Paris Motor Show, the 2012 Conti convertible receives a styling makeover. The changes include newly shaped body panels all around and a more prominent front end with Mulsanne-inspired quad headlamps featuring inner lamps powered by xenon on low beam and LED on high beam.

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Posted on 09.02 / 0 comments / Read More