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Top London design students imagine Bentley in 2050

Imagination is the birthplace of good design. Shapes, curves, and edges are formulated inside an artist's mind before spilling onto a sketchbook page and taking shape as an automobile. The Royal College of Art in London aims to nurture this within its mobility students. In a recent project, vehicle design students of the MA Intelligent Mobility program brainstormed how the future of Bentley Motors would transpire in physical form. The challenge asked, "What will British luxury mean in 2050?" In total, 24 designer hopefuls turned in designs to a judging panel of RCA teachers and members of the Bentley design team. These same teachers also helped the students throughout the process. Of the 24, only four designs were plucked and highlighted, seen in the concept sketches above. Eunji Choi's "Elegant Autonomy," which looks like a mesh between a luxury yacht and a grand piano, took a high-class approach to what driverless cars might look like. Jack Watson's "Stratospheric Grand Touring," the teardrop pod on legs, makes note that without the worry of travel difficulties, home could be literally anywhere. Irene Chiu's "Luxury Soundscapes," seen from the overhead and cockpit views, reimagines a car's cabin as a tranquil safe space. Kate NamGoong's "Material Humanity," which most resembles a current-age car while invoking historic Bentley design, offers a future where the way to stand out from the crowd will be to occasionally drive a combustion engine like "the old days." The rarity of such an engine will form a niche for craft exposed engines, much like is true of high-end watches. We think we like that one best *wink*. The intent for the Intelligent Mobility program is to lead the proclaimed third age of automotive design. It is meant to work toward a future of interconnected megacities, flying cars, driverless vehicles, and sustainable energy and materials. The biggest problem with the future? It'll have new innovations and worse problems even the human mind not be able to imagine. Related Video: Featured Gallery Future of Bentley, Royal College of Art View 16 Photos News Source: Royal College of Art Design/Style Green Bentley Autonomous Vehicles Luxury

Bentley lays out EV and PHEV plans through 2030

Bentley has been steadily dripping details on its electrification plans through the rest of the decade. It's going fully electric and carbon neutral by 2030, and its first all-electric car is coming in 2025. Today, the company provided a few more details on its electric product rollout and how it will start phasing out internal combustion cars. That first electric car is coming toward the end of 2025, so it's probably a 2026 model year vehicle, and it's reportedly going to be an SUV. It's also just the start of a big electric push. The next five years after that car's introduction will bring another new fully electric model each year. Those electric models will probably include new generations of existing nameplates such as the Continental GT and Bentayga, but at least one, possibly the first one, will be an as-yet-unnamed machine. Furthermore, Bentley will continue building these cars at the Crewe, England, facility where it's investing 2.5 billion pounds, or nearly $3.4 billion. Until the first EV arrives, Bentley will be expanding its hybrid offerings, with a few new hybrid variants of existing models coming this year. By 2024, all Bentley models and variants will be available with a plug-in hybrid option. By 2026, all of Bentley's cars with internal combustion engines will be plug-in hybrids.    

Bentley officially returns to racing at Gulf 12hr

For a company with a tendency to name its cars after parts of the Circuit de la Sarthe like Arnage and Mulsanne, Bentley sure has been gone from endurance sportscar racing for a long time. It famously won the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times in the 1920s, but didn't come back until 68 years later to win again in 2003. That was the last time Bentley competed on the world stage... until now.
Bentley first revealed its rekindled racing ambitions with the Continental GT3 at the 2012 Paris Motor Show. The car would be developed for privateer racers, and that's all led up to this point. Team M-Sport, which you may know better for having run Ford's World Rally Championship team, was charged with developing the car, and it entered the new racecar this past weekend in the Gulf 12 Hours in Abu Dhabi. There, on the Yas Marina Circuit in the United Arab Emirates, the Continental GT3 diced it with GT3 versions of the likes of the Ferrari 458, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and McLaren 12C.
So how did it fare on its first time out? Well the race is split into two six-hour sessions, and the Conti finished third in the first heat (behind the AF Corse Ferrari and Black Falcon Benz) and fourth in the second (just edged out by another 458 entered by Kessel Racing). Not a bad outcome for Bentley's first race in a decade. And the Abu Dhabi race was essentially a dress rehearsal for next season when the Continental GT3 will be entered in the full 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series.