2004 Bentley Continental Gt Turbo Just Had Annual Service Awd Coupe Premium on 2040-cars

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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.

Bentley's next model gets Airline Seat Specification option

Bentley is preparing to add a fifth model to its line-up. The company isn't ready to reveal the car's identity — though we think we know what we're looking at — but it announced that the mysterious vehicle will be available with an option called Airline Seat Specification. If you travel in economy class, there is absolutely nothing glamorous about an airline seat: it's often thinly-padded, cramped, and not nearly as clean as we like to imagine. Bentley's new option takes inspiration from the front of the plane, however, where business class and first-class passengers fly. Buyers who order the Airline Seat Specification option will get a car whose individual rear seats are 22-way power-adjustable, feature what the firm calls an "auto climate sensing system," and benefit from an advanced postural adjustment technology that offers 177 individual pressure changes possible across six zones. Bentley proudly calls this the most advanced seat ever fitted to a car. The company is also embedding lighting elements into the door panels. Called Bentley Diamond Illumination, this system consists of 12 LEDs integrated into the front door panels and 22 LEDs integrated into the rear door panels. They're configured to shine through small holes in the upholstery. The result is shown in the image above, though other designs may be possible. Bentley pointed out that the model it's preparing to unveil will offer no less than 24 billion (yes, billion!) unique possible configurations of trim specification alone. As for the rest of the car, nothing is official yet but we're fairly sure that we're looking at a long-wheelbase version of the Bentayga. We'll have a better idea of what Bentley has in the pipeline when the model makes its debut online on May 10, 2022, at 12:30 p.m British time. Related video:

Car-crazy 5-year-old boy writes automakers for treasures, gets big response

Part of the beauty of children is that they can find worth in something adults might deem unworthy or overlook entirely. Five-year-old Patch Hurty didn't see garbage or a broken piece of a car when he spotted a Ford badge lying on the side of a road. He saw an artifact, a souvenir, a start to a collection he could only dream of. Ezra Dyer of Popular Mechanics tells the story of Patch and his quest to turn that one lost badge into a museum of manufacturer logos. According to the article, Hurty is a car fanatic through and through, even using car names as a way of learning to read. After finding the Ford badge near his Connecticut home, he and his mom put together a plan to reach out to dozens of automakers, confessing his love of things on four wheels. In each letter, Patch assembled a picture of himself standing next to one of the cars, and a penny to pay for whatever he hoped was sent his way. The response was unexpectedly and overwhelmingly positive. Of the more than 50 letters he sent out, including to obscure or defunct companies such as Bugatti, Suzuki, and Saturn, a majority responded with warm notes and some type of souvenir. Two of the coolest responses came from Lincoln and Bentley. Lincoln sent a sketch of a Continental (all car lovers enjoy drawing cars, right?), and Bentley sent a wheel center cap. How awesome is that? The story reminds us of something that can easily be lost in all of the negativity involved with the auto industry: Everybody is in this because of a common infatuation with automobiles. For more details on the souvenirs Patch received and accompanying photos, read the rest of the story. Related Video: News Source: Popular Mechanics Read This Bentley Bugatti Ford Lincoln Saturn Suzuki