The company was founded by W.O. Bentley in 1919, who had been through an apprenticeship in the railways. When it went into liquidation in 1931, it was acquired by Rolls Royce. Bentley was eventually sold by then owner Vickers to VW in 1998 while RR then went to BMW.
Bentley cars conjure up in me thoughts of sporty, luxurious cars cruising along the Côte d'Azur or down a boulevard in sunny Los Angeles. The company's racing heritage no doubt has something to do with that. They are made at Crewe, Cheshire in England not too far from where I entered this world.
Today the four models made by the firm are the Continental grand tourer and Flying Spur 4-door variant, Mulsanne saloon and Bentayga SUV. I have to say I'm not won over by design of the SUV but I have never seen one ion the metal so that opinion could change.
VW would like Bentley to be making the company more money, but then Bentley didn't need dieselgate. It seems to have cost Bentley the Korean market, where the marque was quite popular. As to why that should be makes no sense but Korea does seem to need little prompting to show its import averse leanings.
For Bentley's 2007-18 production details, simply click here.
Sales by nation in 2017 can be found here.
Production by model from 1998 to 2014 is available here.
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