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Bentley names new CEO for the Americas

Bentley has announced a shift in its upper ranks that will see Michael Winkler take the reins as head of its operations in the Americas. A longtime sales executive and regional manager, Winkler has worked for Porsche in locations around the world, and comes to Bentley from his previous position as director of Australian operations for Jaguar Land Rover. In his new capacity as president and CEO of Bentley Motors Inc. – the office responsible for handling the brand's operations across the Americas – Winkler will report to Kevin Rose, the Bentley board member for sales and marketing. Winkler succeeds Christophe Georges, who moves back to the head office as director of product and marketing. The British automaker has 53 dealerships across the Americas, accounting for 29 percent of its global sales last year. Its American operations are based at 2200 Ferdinand Porsche Drive in Herndon, VA. MICHAEL WINKLER NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO OF BENTLEY MOTORS INC. (Crewe/Herndon 26th January 2015) Bentley Motors today announced that Michael Winkler will become President and Chief Executive Officer of Bentley Motors Inc., the regional office for Bentley Motors in the Americas, with effect from 1st April 2015. He succeeds Christophe Georges, who was recently appointed Director of Product and Marketing for Bentley's global organisation. Winkler will report directly to Kevin Rose, Bentley's Member of the Board for Sales, Marketing and Aftersales. Rose commented: "The Americas region plays a key part in Bentley's global success, our biggest market with more Bentley customers than anywhere else in the world. I am delighted to welcome Michael to Bentley, and look forward to working with him to drive our brand and network presence further." Winkler has more than 30 years of experience in the automotive industry, holding a number of international positions, working with Porsche in Germany, North America and Australia, and joins Bentley from Jaguar Land Rover, where he held the position of Managing Director of the company's Australian division. The Americas remained Bentley's number one market throughout 2014, closing the year delivering 3,186 cars, up from the 2013 number of 3,140. This accounted for 29% of total global deliveries. There are 53 Bentley dealerships throughout the Americas, with the corporate headquarters based in Herndon, Virginia.

Bentley unveils Rhys Millen's Pikes Peak Continental GT for record attempt

At the end of it all, Rhys Millen might end up owning every Pikes Peak car record that exists. He's time-trialed the perilous mountain road in several wildly different types of vehicles, such as a Hyundai Genesis coupe racecar, the Hyundai RMR PM580-T, the Drive eO PP01 electric racecar, and a Bentley Bentayga. For 2019, Millen's at it again, and he's sticking with his new team at Bentley. On June 30, Millen will gun for the production car record time in a Continental GT. That Millen will drive a Continental GT is not exactly breaking news, as it was first announced in March. However, this is the first time Bentley has shown off the Continental GT's attention-catching Pikes Peak outfit. A matte bright green covers most of the car, with a geometric mountain range crawling up the midsection through the rear. In addition to sponsor stickers from Mobil 1 and Gran Turismo, the GT also wears No. 100 as a nod to the company's 100th anniversary. Millen will try to push the Continental GT from 9,300 feet above sea level to 14,100 feet faster than 10:26.9, the hill climb record for a production car. He'll be working against the GT's 5,985-pound gross vehicle weight, but that shouldn't be a problem with a twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter W12 under the hood. The Continental GT, which will race stock aside from safety equipment, is rated at 626 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 664 lb-ft of torque at 1,350 rpm. It comes from the dealership claiming a 0-to-60 mph time of 3.6 seconds and a 207-mph top speed. An active all-wheel-drive system and Bentley Dynamic Ride should help Millen keep the car under control during turn after turn after turn up the mountain. If Millen succeeds, it would be a huge victory for Bentley, which would then own the production SUV and car records. Rolls-Royce can't do that.

Bentley's first EV will be an SUV arriving in 2025 on Audi Project Artemis platform

The first electric Bentley is going to be an SUV, and it will arrive in 2025, according to a report recently published by Car Magazine. It will also be an Audi collaboration, but this second bit of news comes as very little surprise given the companies live under the same roof in the VW Group. When Car questioned Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark concerning the body style the first EV would take, Hallmark replied, “If you're not in SUVs, you're nowhere.” ThatÂ’s a pretty telling suggestion, and considering the BentaygaÂ’s success, Bentley is smart for heading down the crossover/SUV path first. The next question we have concerns the vitals of the car. What will underpin BentleyÂ’s first big, electric effort? It appears as though Project Artemis is the answer. WeÂ’ve seen rumors and reports flying around about this Audi-led project previously. ItÂ’s been suggested that both Bentley and Porsche would be taking a bite, and these previous reports are ringing true. “With our current cars, we had to get into the engineering largely after they [the platforms] had been done,” Hallmark told Car. “The difference now is that with Artemis we're right in there at the beginning, helping define it. We're not leading it, but we're going to be a beneficiary of it” Audi has previously said the Artemis project/platform would be ready for prime time by 2024, so Bentley clearly already has its foot in the door if it intends to release a car in 2025 on the same chassis.  “Looking forward to electrification, we're going to have closer synergies with Audi,” Hallmark said. “But we will continue to have strong relationships with both brands [Audi and Porsche], and we see this as an opportunity, not a risk. No question – we are electrifying. And we need to find the best way to fast-track that, and to lead the technology charge.” Advanced Level 2 autonomous tech is expected to land with this platform, and we suspect there will be many other enhancements made even above and beyond what is currently possible with the PPE platform (underpinning both the Taycan and E-Tron GT). Artemis is also a project designed to yield much larger electric vehicles than what the VW Group currently has to offer. That fits BentleyÂ’s vision of a flagship SUV, and itÂ’ll also work nicely with a giant Audi offering.