Living Moments - N°5 Edition 2018

interview I richard Charlesworth Was it clear from the outset that Bentley would stay in the North English city of Crewe? Naturally the workforce feared that VW could relocate production to Germany, but two days after the deal the chairman of the board at the time, Dr. Piëch, came into the plant and reassured us: “We bought Bentley because we love what you do. We have great respect for your work. There are things that we can- not improve on, others we can. We want to support you in improving them and consequently polish the new jewel in VW’s crown”. How did he manage to do that? Two months later VW promised an investment of 500 million pounds to modernise the plant and to de- velop a new model, the Continen- tal GT. Bentley shines today not only because of the most mod- ern technology, it has also added more luxury to its range. For ex- ample double the amount of wood is built into our cars as in the 70s. Bentley has even advanced to become the official vehicle for Queen Elisabeth II. Why? When her father, George VI. was King, the Royals still drove Daimlers. Then she received a Phantom IV as a wedding present in 1947. Rolls Royce subsequently became the of- ficial state car. As it was already cer- tain in 2002 that soon only Bentleys would be built in Crewe, the Queen received a model for the first time on the occasion of her golden jubi- lee. The entire royal family are now only seen in Bentleys, both in a busi- ness and private capacity. Even the “green” Prince Charles? Yes, as he strongly advocates en- vironmental protection, two Mul- sannes with an 8-cylinder engine were converted especially for him so they could run on bioethanol. Ettore Bugatti once described Bentley as “the fastest truck in the world”. How true is that today? His statement, which was intended as an insult to his rival in motorsports, can be considered as a compliment. We always built big cars and do not have to apologise for that. If you want to buy a small car, don’t buy a Bent- ley! A Mulsanne or Flying Spur have five comfortable seats, sufficient legroom and if necessary can reach speeds of 300 kilometres per hour! What are Bentley’s ambitions in automobile sport? Following the double victory in the 24 hour Le Mans in 2003 with the Speed 8 sports car we are now successfull with the Bentley Continental, which delivers 608 PS in the GT3 street ver- sion, in the touring car series. Continental Supersports 73 Living Moments