Motor Authority - blog Category: Bentley

Bentley is staging an art auction together with Bonhams in order to raise money for The Christie, a cancer hospital in Manchester, England. The pieces to be sold have been created by the men and women of the Bentley styling and design team, which have pooled their creative talents to making art.

The art will be auctioned at an invitation-only evening event on Tuesday December 1 at Bonhams, the auction house in London.

The collection includes a vast array of sculptures, painting, digital art and photography. Created in many different media, from sculptures in bronze and set in wood, to metal and leather, to plastic, to palette knife and...

Bentley may best be known for its hedonistic land yachts that can cost as much as a house, but lately the automaker has become increasingly recognized for its environmental efforts. Bentley has already laid out a three-stage plan to reduce emissions of its fleet by 15%, launch new powertrains that deliver a 40% improvement in fuel economy, and introduce flex-fuel models to help deliver a fleet-wide carbon-dioxide emissions average of 120g/km--all by 2012--but now the team at Crewe are going a step further.

According to a new report, Bentley is already working on a powertrain that will reduce CO2 emissions by 40%--and it’s likely to be...

The car touted as Bentley's greenest, fastest and most powerful ever will only hit two out of three of those marks when it makes its U.S. debut next year. The first Bentley to be able to drink ethanol-heavy fuels like E85 as well as gasoline, the flex-fuel ultra-coupe will have to wait until after the first 200 deliveries in the U.S. to come through on its 'green' claims.

The reason for the seemingly arbitrary 200-car mark? That's how long it will take Bentley to get the re-worked flex-fuel V-12 past U.S. homologation testing. To add ethanol capability to the engine, Bentley's engineers had to fit hardened valve seats among other minor...

The most extreme Bentley could get a convertible version, say company insiders, but the question is still up in the air. It will take some good luck and a strong showing of demand for the hard top version, which goes on sale this month.

Starting at $273,295, the Continental Supersports is no performance bargain, but on the other hand, you do get a whole lot of car--though it's actually 243 pounds lighter than the Continental GT Speed. The 6.0-liter V-12 powerplant is rated at 621 horsepower and can rocket the hulking coupe to 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds--a tenth quicker than the Corvete ZR1 achieves the same feat. Its top speed is equally...

With the all-new 2011 Bentley Mulsanne, there's reason to believe that Bentley has a little grudge against its former sibling Rolls-Royce. The Mulsanne had its world debut at the 2009 Pebble Beach Concours back in August, and Bentley makes no veiled references to challenging Rolls-Royce's Phantom with the new sedan. They're saying it outright, calling the Mulsanne the "pinnacle" of luxury cars.

With a 505-horsepower and a massive 752-pound-feet of torque churning out from its twin-turbocharged 6.75-liter V-8 engine, an expected of pricetag of more than $300,000, and leather hide and wood trim as far as the eye can see, we have little reason...

Just as the Continental GT has its Flying Spur sedan and GTC convertible variants, Bentley’s upcoming 2011 Mulsanne sedan is expected to spawn its own two-door variants. The legacy started with cars like the Brooklands and Azure Convertible, both of which are in desperate need for a replacement.

The information comes from Bentley executive Dr Ulrich Eichhorn, who hinted at the possibility of a coupe and convertible Mulsanne. Eichhorn explained that the Mulsanne will reset the luxury car benchmark for years to come, so it’s understandable the company has such ambitious plans for the platform.

“With this car, we assessed...