Bentley — History, Models and Everything You Need to Know

Walter Owen Bentley — W.O. — founded Bentley Motors on January 18 1919 in London. An engineer by training and a racing enthusiast by passion, W.O. had established his reputation converting French DFP cars into competitive racing vehicles before the First World War. His vision for Bentley was precise: to build a fast car, a good car, the best in its class. The first Bentley — the 3 Litre — was produced in 1921 and established the template that made Bentley famous: a large-displacement, naturally aspirated engine in a substantial but not heavy chassis, capable of sustained high-speed cruising and competitive racing.

The Bentley Boys — wealthy amateur racing drivers who drove factory Bentleys — dominated Le Mans in the late 1920s. Bentley won at Le Mans in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930 — five victories in seven years that cemented the brand's motorsport legend. The cars were large, powerful and brutally fast for their era. The 4½ Litre Blower — supercharged on W.O.'s insistence — is one of the most famous racing cars in history, though W.O. himself reportedly opposed supercharging on principle.

Bentley was acquired by Rolls-Royce in 1931 — a corporate relationship that would define both brands for the next 67 years. Under Rolls-Royce ownership, Bentley gradually lost its independent sporting identity and became essentially a sportier Rolls-Royce. Vickers acquired Rolls-Royce's automotive division in 1980. When Vickers sold the combined operation in 1998, BMW acquired the Rolls-Royce name and brand while Volkswagen Group acquired Bentley, along with the manufacturing facility at Crewe. Under VW Group's ownership — and specifically under the stewardship of Ferdinand Piëch — Bentley was transformed from a declining luxury marque into one of the world's most successful ultra-luxury car companies.

The Bentley Continental GT, launched in 2003, was the product that defined modern Bentley. Using a platform and engineering from VW Group, it offered a 6.0-litre twin-turbocharged W12 engine producing 552 horsepower, 0-60mph in 4.8 seconds and a top speed of 198mph in a genuinely luxurious grand tourer body that seated four adults in real comfort. It was the fastest four-seat car in the world on launch and the most powerful Bentley ever made at the time. More importantly, it was the car that demonstrated what Bentley could become under proper investment — a genuine world-class product that justified its price tag rather than coasting on heritage.

The third-generation Continental GT — launched in 2018 — refined the formula further with a new platform, an updated W12 producing 626 horsepower and a vastly improved interior that set a new benchmark for grand tourer luxury. The Continental GT Speed produces 659 horsepower and is capable of 208mph. The Continental GT Mulliner — Bentley's bespoke division's interpretation — offers an almost unlimited range of personalisation options for buyers who want a truly unique car.

Bentley's unique position in the luxury car market is its combination of genuine performance and genuine craftsmanship — the brand builds cars that are as fast as sports cars and as refined as the finest furniture. Every Bentley is assembled by hand at the Crewe factory in Cheshire — the same factory that has built Bentleys since 1946. The veneered wood dashboards are hand-matched from single logs. The hides are inspected for imperfections before cutting. The Mulliner personalisation division offers buyers essentially unlimited options — if you can describe it, Bentley's craftspeople can build it. This level of bespoke manufacturing at volume — Bentley delivered over 13,000 cars in 2024 — is extraordinary. No other luxury manufacturer combines genuine motorsport heritage, genuine handcraft and genuine performance capability in the same package at the same level of consistency. The upcoming electric GT will test whether those qualities can survive the transition to electric power.