Bentley Celebrates 200,000 Luxury Vehicle Milestone
Mar 30, 2021
Bentley has celebrated the completion of its 200,000th vehicle, which recently left the production line at its Crewe headquarters in the United Kingdom. Over 75% of Bentley’s output across 101 years of production has been hand-built at Crewe.
Bentley celebrated the 200,000th vehicle manufacture milestone with a brand new Bentayga Hybrid, underlining the carmaker’s shift towards electrification in the future.
Bentley Motors has celebrated the 200,000th luxury car built in the company’s 101-year history.
The Bentayga Hybrid, destined for a Chinese customer, met the oldest surviving Bentley – EXP 2 – and a number of long serving colleagues, as it rolled off the production line at the home of Bentley in Crewe in mid-March. This crowns an extraordinary 20-year period in which the success driven by modern day models such as the Continental GT and Bentayga has changed the face of Bentley Motors.
Bentley says the manufacturing milestone is remarkable when considered that the 200,000th car is the latest in 155,582 vehicles built at Crewe since 2003 – the breakthrough year the Continental GT was originally launched as the first model of the modern Bentley era. Today, Bentley is building 85 cars per day, the same output across one month two decades ago.
In comparison to Bentley’s modern era, in the year of Bentley’s first existence, 1919, through to 2002, the company built 44,418 luxury cars – 38,933 of them in Crewe. Among that total were many iconic models of their time, including the Bentley Blower, the R-Type Continental, Mulsanne, Arnage and Azure. Records show that 84% of all cars built for the UK market are still on the road today.
A major investment programme at the Crewe factory since 2003 has gone together with the success of the Bentley Continental GT, the definitive luxury Grand Tourer. The 80,000th individual, made-to-order example was built in January this year.
To witness the landmark moment, the Bentayga Hybrid and EXP 2, were joined by Bentley’s longest serving colleagues, including Steve Ward, who joined in 1977, and followed in his father’s footsteps, his own Bentley career beginning 42 years earlier.
In his role as Whole Vehicle Analysis Engineer, Steve has had an active involvement with every Bentley model since 1980 and has tested them throughout the world, witnessing first-hand the transformation in modern-day Bentley cars.
The Continental GT is the ultimate in high-speed luxury and remains the benchmark in its sector. This week (March 23) also saw a new Continental GT revealed – the most capable, performance-focused Bentley yet, the Continental GT Speed offers no compromise to comfort or luxury.
The success of the Continental GT has been mirrored by the Bentayga, offering a true Bentley driving experience and unparalleled luxury. Launched in 2015, when it established the luxury SUV sector, the fastest SUV in the world has reached its 25,000 production landmark. It is expected that the Bentayga could surpass total sales of the Continental GT within a decade and become the biggest selling Bentley model in history. Since 2005, the company has also built 40,000 examples of the Flying Spur.
Looking to the future, the company aims to be end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030, with the Crewe factory climate positive thereafter. Bentley will move to full electrification – PHEV or BEV only – by 2026, then switch the entire model range to battery electric vehicles by 2030.