2011 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed In Beluga W/a Beluga Interior on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Bentley's hosting a dog party — especially if your dog is named Bentley

The following story illustrates why there'll always be an England: At the veddy British road circuit/estate called Goodwood two hours south of London, ultimate British car company Bentley will host … well, two dog-day afternoons celebrating dogs and their owners and featuring special treats for dogs named Â… well, Bentley.  The affair on May 20-21, described as “a grand celebration of all things dog,” is formally part of the annual "Goodwoof" festival. Owners of Bentleys (car or dog) will gain access to Bentley's VIP area, and a fleet of Bentayga luxury 4x4s will provide “extra bark and growl to a range of activities that will give dogs and their human friends a wonderful weekend – or a great Dane out.” Oof. So, all dogs are welcome, but itÂ’s more fun if you chauffeur your dog named Bentley to the party in a Bentley. Both driver and pet will be granted access to the Bentley Barking Paddock, a car park just for them with easy access to “The Kennels,” the West Sussex estateÂ’s central clubhouse. (Preferential parking alone may mean some dogs with other names will find themselves temporarily answering to "Bentley" that weekend.) The dogs will compete in some dog-ish contests. Humans will watch field and trail demonstrations and hear talks from dog experts and celebrity owners. Bentleys (the cars) will somehow play a role in herding competitions. Of course, thereÂ’ll be “plenty of treats for those on both two and four legs,” the organizers say. On the first day, a celebratory "parade of poodles," led by Goodwood's the Duke of Richmond, will take center stage on the estate grounds. Also planned is a display of doghouse architecture named, um, Barkitecture. And a photo booth will be set up in a Bentayaga for “pup-arazzi” souvenir pictures. Goodwoof benefits a British charity called Pets as Therapy.  ThereÂ’s more info for planning a trip here.  

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.

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.