The history of Bentley – Part three
In this third and final blog on the history of Bentley, we look at their recent developments and document just how they remain a firm favourite within the Birmingham limos industry.
Ten years ago Bentley was to undergo yet another takeover bid. This time, German car giants Volkswagen beat off some fierce competition from rivals BMW to secure both Bentley Motors and Rolls-Royce for the cool sum of £430m.
Yet problems arose due to the fact that just prior to the takeover, BMW had begun supplying the companies with a range of components for their vehicles. After a long period of deliberation, Volkswagen and BMW came to the mutual agreement that the manufacturing wing of Rolls-Royce and Bentley would remain with Volkswagen for the following four years. At this point, the responsibility for producing Rolls-Royce cars would be given exclusively to BMW.
As a result, Volkswagen’s dependence on BMW was allowed to deteriorate between 1998 and 2002 to the extent that by the start of 2003 Bentley cars no longer contain engines made by BMW.
Over the past five years, the Bentley brand has gone from strength to strength, consolidating their position as Britain’s most prestigious supplier of high performance vehicles. As a result of this their models are always in high demand within the limo hire industry, as well as the private market.
Financially, Bentley are as secure as they have ever been – last year the company broke the 10,000 sales mark for the first time in their history and announced previously unparalleled profit levels.
Related posts:
