While I'm not (and probably never will be) in a financial position to own a new Rolls or Bentley (used is a possibility, however), I fell in love with these cars as a child in the 60s and have followed them ever since. I was probably the only 20-something guy in the world who thought the new Silver Spirit introduced in 1980 was "cool." Anyway, on to the topic of my post...

As the German owners of Rolls-Royce and Bentley have had ten years now to work their magic in bringing both these marques into the 21 st century I have noticed something interesting about the human faces that each one puts on the companies. One could argue (though I would not be one of them) that the "new" Rolls-Royce is nothing more than a production arm of BMW, what with the bodies and engines constructed in Germany and then shipped to Goodwood for final assembly, and the fact that all BMW essentially got was the name "Rolls-Royce" and had to create an entirely new car company from scratch to go with it. One could argue (though, again, I would not be one of them) that Bentley is still the only "true" British car maker to result from the German acquisition of the Rolls-Royce and Bentley brands. At least VW got not only the name "Bentley" but the manufacturing facilities in Crewe as well. So why is it in every promotional video, every new model debut, and every auto show presentation for these two companies I've seen, the public face of Bentley is always German and always English for Rolls-Royce?

Rolls-Royce: It's almost as if BMW knew from the beginning what a mistake it would be from a PR standpoint to have German engineers and production managers extolling the virtues of the new Rolls-Royce. BMW's engineering prowess no doubt permeates every inch of the Phantom and Ghost models, but the company itself, at least, acts as a "silent partner," putting a very English face on Rolls-Royce Motorcars Ltd. and the cars they build.

Bentley: For Bentley, on the other hand, based on the spokespersons at nearly every public event, you almost have to wonder if there is anyone from England actually building and designing cars at Crewe. VW should be justifiably proud of what they have accomplished with Bentley since acquiring it in 1998. The Continental line of cars is simply remarkable. And the new Mulsanne is stunning. But at the debut of the Mulsanne at Pebble Beach, the purist in me just finds something incongruous about hearing the history and heritage of Bentley, and the virtues of this latest Bentley, delivered in a German accent.

 

Bentley the steering wheel is from a VW, the car keys are from a VW, the F1 paddles are from a touareg/phaeton. The chassis is of a phatoen, the engine is two VW engines turbo charged to become a W12. the only thing that is bentley is its name, leatherworks.

 

I'm afraid Mo has nailed it. The Continental and Flying Spur are just massive Vdubya's IMO, and that's why I can't get excited about them at all.

Now the, outgoing Arnage on the other hand...

Still on the fence about the Mulsanne.

 

Mulsanne grew on me and I love it, interesting thoughts Gary7.

 

I laughed when I saw the key fob from a Continental was the same as one from a Jetta.

 

I disagree slightly. Even though it still blows me away every time we work on a Continental how many of the parts are stamped "VW", the quality and care and the fine details that the Volkswagen engineers put into the build of these cars shows why it's still one of the finest luxury marques out there and still one of my favorites.

 

Oh I have no doubt the quality of these cars is outstanding. But to me they lack the 'Bentley soul'.

That clearly hasn't negatively impacted the company as a whole because they used to sell, what, 100 cars a year before the VW takeover?

 

Yeah, I guess the Germans were finally successful in their invasion of the UK. God bless capitalism.

 

...was designed with a heavy engineering influence by BMW. Remember, during the gestation of the Arnage/Silver Seraph BMW was in the process of acquiring Rolls-Royce/Bentley. The Arnage and Seraph were originally designed to come with BMW V8 and V12 engines. VW stepped in at the last minute and trumped BMW's bid and things changed. Thankfully, someone at Crewe convinced VW to revamp the venerable Rolls V8 and stick it under the hood of the Arnage. VW really had little choice, I suppose. They were certainly not going to continue to source engines from BMW (though they did for the Seraph until its run ended in 2003), so they could either fit the car with the existing Crewe powerplant or adapt another engine from the various VW owned marques.

The Continental and Flying Spur models--engine and all--are built in Crewe (though some have and may continue to be built in Germany at the Phaeton factory). There is no doubt that under the skin they are D1 VWs pure and simple. That's not necessarily a bad thing because the D1 platform (shared only with the VW Phaeton) is a remarkable piece of engineering.

And while the Rolls Phantom may have a body built entirely by BMW in Germany, there is no question it was purpose designed and is purpose built to be a Rolls-Royce. The aluminum spaceframe is shared with no other cars made by BMW. (The new Ghost, however, comes closer to being in the same camp with the Bentley Flying Spur in that the Ghost is definitely based on the new BMW 7 series platform.)

 

Arnage T with Quad exhaust tips FTW, bad boy old school Bentley with 6.75 twin turbo