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Bentley preps 'Centennary Specification' for all models built in 2019

For the entirety of Bentley's 100th year in business, the English carmaker will adorn its products with a Centenary Specification. The package consists of unique badging with specially developed Centenary Gold badge highlights, available Centenary Gold thread for the headrest logos, contrast stitching and cross stitching, and a "centenary welcome light" outside the vehicle. The in-house craftsmen have also developed unique embroidery. Bentley says the gold hue was inspired by metalwork on vintage models like the 1919 EXP 2 (pictured, red and silver) and 1929 Birkin Blower (pictured, green), the latter one of the company's Le Mans winners driven by Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin. The hue possesses an "elegant warm tone and a deep fluid shadow." The steering wheel badge, key fob, shift knob, and wheel center caps feature the tinted ring. The "B" badge on the radiator surround also features "1919-2019" script, and that script is found on the tread plates, too. For those who don't know, eponymous founder Walter Owen Bentley's engineering career began with locomotives — which he loved more than cars at one point — and motorcycles, before settling on automobiles. He bought his first car in 1910, a French DFP, and after improving it himself, set a 10-lap record at the Brooklands circuit. In 1912 he opened a DFP franchise with his brother Horace Milner as Bentley & Bentley, and further upgraded the car with a new piston design that was 88 percent aluminum and 12 percent copper. The Royal Naval Air Service adopted Bentley's piston design and Bentley's re-designed Clerget airplane engines, dubbed the Bentley Rotary. After the war, Bentley refocused on cars, and in 1919 released the 3-Litre, which boasted features like a cross-flow head, overhead cams working four valves per cylinder, and twin plugs in each cylinder. The company delivered the first production model in 1921, then went racing and won the second edition of Le Mans in 1924. That is how Bentley began to become "Bentley, ahem ...", and here we are. Next year, on July 10, the company plans to celebrate the feat appropriately. Related Video:

Bentley says Conti Supersports 'isn't on the horizon'

For the longest time, Bentley made a name for itself making ever-faster versions of its core Continental range. These days, however, the British automaker has other things on which to focus. And that means there's little time to spend on developing a new high-performance Conti. After refreshing the Continental GT, GTC, and Flying Spur in 2011, Bentley came out with a new Continental GT Speed in 2012, boasting 616 horsepower. Last year it updated the range again, bumping the GT Speed up to 626 hp and releasing the GT3-R as a road-going version of the racing model, with a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 pumping out 572 hp. (A further refresh was rolled out just months ago, but was more cosmetic in orientation.) It even slotted the Speed's engine into the Flying Spur, and did a Speed version of the Mulsanne as well. What it hasn't done, however, is develop a successor to the previous Supersports model. "...A future Supersports model isn't on the horizon at the moment." – Mike Sayer, Bentley The Supersports was the performance flagship of the previous Continental range, boasting 621 horsepower, a 0-62 time of 3.7 seconds, and a top speed in excess of 204 miles per hour. But the current GT Speed is even faster, quoted at 206 mph. And with 626 hp, it's marginally more powerful too. The question, then, is whether an even more potent Supersports is in the works. And the answer is: not just yet. "While we're always looking at ways of extending our unique combination of luxury and performance even further, we're currently focused on delivering the all-new Bentley Bentayga SUV," spokesman Mike Sayer revealed in correspondence with Autoblog. "The Continental family has just received a suite of styling and usability upgrades for 16MY, and a future Supersports model isn't on the horizon at the moment." So while a new Continental Supersports could arrive at some point down the line, it's apparently not a priority right now. And what about the prospect of an even more hardcore version of the Continental GT3-R? Rumors have been circulating of an even lighter version in the works, unburdened by the bulk of the Conti's all-wheel drive system – but we're told that's not in the cards at the moment, either. "The Continental GT3-R has been very well-received around the world. Some regions (including the UK) have sold-out their allocation. A very limited number of cars remain in a small number of overseas markets," says Sayer.

VW Group shareholders demand Bentley return to profit

The Volkswagen Group's main shareholders are giving British ultraluxury division Bentley an ultimatum to turn around its finances and start earning a profit. The Piech and Porsche families did not say what would happen if the brand fails to return to the black, but they said it should happen within two years. "The important thing is for every (VW Group) brand to generate a reasonable contribution again," Wolfgang Porsche told the subscription-only Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, as relayed by Automotive News. "That is not currently the case at Bentley, and we are not satisfied." Volkswagen Group has not yet issued its report for full-year 2018, but Bentley had lost the equivalent of $157 million through the first nine months on an 11 percent decline in sales. In 2017, Bentley sold 10,566 vehicles globally, with revenue down 9.2 percent from 2016. VW Group apparently cites the slow rollout of the Continental GT and the British pound's lower value amid Brexit talks, which makes the many parts it sources from continental Europe more expensive, as among the reasons. A German study last summer claimed that Bentley lost a little more than $19,000 on each car. Adrian Hallmark started as CEO in February 2018 after heading global brand strategy for Jaguar. Bentley in 2018 released the all-new 2019 Continental GT after a nine-month delay, and it revealed the GTC convertible version in Los Angeles. Hallmark has said 2019 "is a conversion year to a better business model" after a year plagued by problems that also included European WLTP certification. He announced last year the luxury brand would no longer build new sports cars, though the brand says it's still committed to the idea of the two-door GT. Bentley has also said it wants electrified versions of all its models by 2025, which will be an expensive proposition and will likely including plug-in hybrid versions of current models.