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Bentley reveals One-of-One Continental GT Speed at The Quail

Monterey Car Week is the place and time to debut super-rare, exclusive vehicles, and the Bentley Continental One-of-One GT Speed is precisely that. This single Continental GT Speed was made to celebrate 20 years of the Continental GT, which started production in 2003. The very first one off the line (pictured alongside the new car here) was painted in Cypress Green paint, had Saddle leather upholstery and Burr Walnut wood trim. So of course, this 2023 GT Speed is finished in Cypress Green paint, features Saddle leather upholstery and Burr Walnut trim. However, Bentley enhanced the new one to make it appear even more special. The Saddle leather is broken up with “Special Green” accent hides, and contrast stitching is done in the same green throughout. Plus, there is both glossy and open-pore wood trim instead of the single type to jazz things up further. To call this out as an especially unique Continental GT Speed, it also gets sill plates that read “20 years of the Continental GT by Bentley Mulliner.” YouÂ’ll also see outlines of the 2003 and 2023 Continental GTs on the center console, dash trim and outer door sill. And lastly, “One of One by Bentley Mulliner” is etched into the cupholder cover alongside a wheel. As youÂ’d expect, this particular car has pretty much every package and option one can spec for the Continental GT Speed. And because itÂ’s the Speed, it has the W12 engine and all the other performance goodies that go along with it. Bentley says the car was handed over to its owner at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering. Related video:

VW adding particulate filters to gas engines

Volkswagen is working hard to overcome the PR disaster that is its diesel emissions scandal, and part of its efforts is focusing, weirdly, on petrol engines. Starting in June 2017, the embattled German automaker will add particulate filters to the gas-powered Volkswagen Tiguan and Audi A5. The change will eventually impact nearly every direct-injected gas engine the VW Group makes. Audi? Particulate filter. Seat? Particulate filter. Even Bentley is going to get the tech, all in a bid to reduce soot emissions by 90 percent. In fact, by 2022 VAG expects 7 million of its vehicles to boast the emissions-cleaning tech, which has long been a fixture on diesel engines. "Following increases in efficiency and lower CO2 output, we are now bringing about a sustained reduction in the emission levels of our modern petrol engines by fitting particulate filters as standard," Volkswagen Group research and design boss Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn said in a statement. "In the future, all models will be equipped with the latest and most efficient SCR catalytic converter technology." VW's initial rollout focuses on the 1.4-liter, turbocharged Tiguan and the 2.0-liter, turbocharged A5. Considering the popularity of the 2.0-liter across the VW range, we'd expect it's only a matter of time before VW expands its particulate filters tech to additional gas-powered vehicles. Related Video:

Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark explains carmaker's situation and plan for recovery

In August, we posted on some of the issues plaguing Bentley at the moment, namely the large loss the carmaker's posted this year. The same Autocar piece we referenced, carmaker CEO Adrian Hallmark said Bentley would not be making more sports cars. Bentley wrote to us to clarify that a single year's loss isn't a calamity, that "it is a mistake to suggest that sports cars are the same as GTs," and that the brand "will continue to design, engineer, and craft" GT cars. We must note, though, that at the time, Hallmark himself said, "The sports car sector – like our own...." More recently, Hallmark expounded on some of the factors slowing the company down this year, from delayed launches to exchange rates. Through the first nine months of the year, Bentley sold 6,654 units, an 11 percent decline from the 7,498 units sold through the first nine months of 2017. In addition to other matters like huge investments in new technologies, that helped the Crewe carmaker to a $44.7-million year-over-year drop in revenue, and a $156-million overall loss, compared to a $35 million profit over the same period last year. On top of declining sales overall, the nine-month delay in launching the Continental GT, the brand's second-best seller, was the first of two big issues causing red finances. Hallmark said the Continental GT "just wasn't ready for launch. But we'd paid for it – we'd paid all the money out, but not got any money back in." Having got that sorted, the second issue arose: WLTP certification. Unlike the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) before it, the Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure requires every model variant get tested for certification. Hallmark told Automotive News Europe, "We were not quick enough unfortunately to book capacity or prioritize our derivatives within some of the group processes to get them certified on time." Bentley wasn't alone in this; Volkswagen had only managed to get seven of its 14 models approved by September 1 when the WLTP rules took effect. Bentley's much smaller scale exacerbated the problem, turning the situation "close to catastrophic." Hallmark said the snafu robbed the Bentayga of 300 to 400 sales - a gigantic number with respect to a $200,000 vehicle - and pushed the Bentayga plug-in hybrid launch back to March 2019 so Bentley could get volume models certified. Furthermore, preparing for Brexit hasn't been easy on any of the UK's manufacturers.