Londoners to Get a Rare Chance to Take a Close Look at The Queen’s Bentley State Limousine

If you happen to be in London between July 11-14, you can have a rare opportunity to admire Her Majesty the Queen’s Bentley State Limousine, which will go on display at the Coronation Festival in Buckingham Palace Gardens.

The unique Bentley, presented to the Queen in 2002 to mark the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne, will be the highlight of a collection of Bentleys that will be displayed during the celebrations.

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Next Porsche Panamera to Share Platform with the Future Bentley Continental

When the second-generation Porsche Panamera launches sometime by mid-decade it will use a common platform with the third-generation Bentley Continental family.

According to a report from Edmunds, the 2016 Porsche Panamera will use a special version of VW Group’s front-engine rear-wheel-drive MSB body architecture. The next-generation Panamera, which is expected to be largely influenced by the Panamera Sport Turismo Concept (pictured above and below) that was revealed last year at the Paris auto show, will keep the current car’s layout. This means it will continue to have four low-mounted seats and a central tunnel running through the cockpit.

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Steve Sutcliffe Drives Le Mans Winning Bentley Speed 8

Driving a Le Mans winning LMP1 prototype car isn’t something many road test editors can brag about. Autocar road test editor Steve Sutcliffe somehow convinced the people at Bentley to let him drive their 2003 Le Mans winning car, the Speed 8. Read more »

China Threatens the EU with Higher Import Duties on Luxury Cars

Starting a trade war with the world’s largest car market is not a very wise decision for any country that has a strong auto industry, much less for the European Union, which is home to some of the most important carmakers in the world.

However, this is really on the verge of happening, as the EU has imposed duties on Chinese solar panels, infuriating the government of the world’s most populous country, which retaliated by launching an anti-dumping investigation into imported European wine.

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MotorTrend Goes All the Way to China to Experience the New Bentley Flying Spur

The Bentley Continental Flying Spur was always hampered by one thing – no, I'm not talking about VW Phaeton’s platform, because that was excellent and gave the driver huge confidence. The thing that hampered the car was the fact it was called Continental, meaning it shared a lot in common with its (cheaper) two-door sibling the Continental GT – it was a version of that model with two extra doors. Read more »

Vilner Studio Murders Out a Bentley Continental GT with a Complete Makeover

It might not have a fancy name, but Vilner Studio's Bentley Continental GT tune sure has some road presence, as seen in these first photos of the completed car that had been teased through a few sketches back in April.

The Bulgarian tuning house says the owner of the first generation Continental GT approached the company eight months ago asking Vilner to individualize the luxury model's exterior and interior, while also boosting its performance numbers.

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Lamborghini, Ferrari and Other Luxury Cars go up in Flames on Thai Trailer [w/Video]

Here's a story that's being making the news rounds in Thailand today, and all for good reason, because, while it's not uncommon for exotic supercars to catch fire on the road individually, having four of them turned into useless scrap metal on a transport trailer is a rare occasion, to say the least.

Yet it happened on a road in the resort district of Pak Chong, Nakhon Ratchasima, in Thailand when a fire that is said to have started on a BMW, which spread on a Lamborghini Mucilageo and then onto a Ferrari F430 and a Bentley Continental. A motorist from the opposite lane purportedly alerted the driver of the truck about the fire.

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Bentley Churns Out 6 New Limited Edition Le Mans-Badged Models

Talk about going overboard with special limited edition models, but then again, unlike your run-of-the-mill mainstream carmakers, when Bentley says "limited edition", it really means it, as the Crew-based company plans to build only 48 examples of each of the six ‘Le Mans Limited Edition’ cars it announced today. Read more »

China President Bans Use of Military License Plates on Porsches, Bentleys, and Other Luxo Cars

China’s Central Military Commission, which is headed by President Xi Jinping himself, has banned the use of military license plates for a long list of vehicles, most of them belonging in the luxury segment. This, according to the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Daily, the country’s armed forces official newspaper, has been done in order to “maintain social harmony, stability and the reputation of the military”.

Although China is a goldmine for premium brands the report said that allowing luxury cars to use military plates “is at odds with our army’s glorious tradition and not conclusive to building the military’s moral.” Since May 1, all existing military license plates have been cancelled in an effort to stop the sale of both legal and counterfeit ones.

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Care to Take a Seat? Bentley Designs Chairs for London Grooming Salon

Luxury car manufacturers often associate their image with other luxury goods companies, including watchmakers or fashion houses, with both parties hoping to gain some new customers from the collaboration. Bentley has gone the extra mile and collaborated with luxury men’s lifestyle brand Pankhurst, which recently opened a new men’s grooming store in London. Read more »

VW Starts to Feel the Crisis: Q1 Profit Down almost 50 Percent

Although deliveries and market share are on the rise for the first quarter of 2013, Volkswagen Group posted a profit before tax of €2.7 billion ($3.53 billion), down from €4.2 billion ($5.5 billion) in the same period last year. Profit after tax was €1.9 billion ($2.48 billion), also down from €3.1 billion ($4.05 billion). Read more »

VW Group’s Offensive This Year Includes 60 New and Updated Models

Volkswagen Group wants to offset decreasing demand in Europe by rolling out 60 new and updated models before the end of this year. At the shareholders’ meeting in Hanover, Germany, VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn said the company’s target remains unchanged – to reach the top of the automotive industry.

Europe’s largest carmaker is targeting higher sales and revenue this year with its revamped VW Golf and Skoda Octavia, plus the new Audi A3 Sedan, which targets especially the Chinese and U.S. markets. VW is hoping these new models will help make up for a slowdown in Europe, where demand is nearing the lowest point in 20 years.

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Vilner Takes it to the Next Level with Complete Transformation of Bentley Continental GT

Over the past couple of years, we've come to know about Vilner mainly through its interior makeovers, and much less about its limited exterior and performance mods, but the Bulgarian studio wants to spread out and enhance its offerings with the first fully transformed project, which happens to be a first generation Bentley Continental GT.

Like the big players in the industry, Vilner also likes playing the teasing game so it released a trio of renderings to preview its newest creation before the reveal.

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Bentley Chooses NYC for Formal North American Debut of New Flying Spur and Updated Mulsanne

The new Bentley Flying Spur is a welcome departure from what we were used to seeing in recent year, and it looks like a very modern interpretation, of one of their cars from the mid-1990s, especially from the back. It has now made its official North American debut, at the 2013 New York auto show, along with an updated version of the Mulsanne flagship. Read more »

DMC Germany Decks-Out 2013 Bentley Continental GT Coupe

Targeting owners of the refreshed Bentley Continental GT Coupe wishing for a more distinct and forceful appearance as well as a few more horses under the hood of their cars, German tuning house DMC has released a new package for the British luxury model named "Duro".

The customization starts with the GT Coupe's looks and a carbon fiber body kit comprising a front bumper with a lip spoiler, side skirts, a boot lid spoiler and a rear bumper with a diffuser, finished off with a new set of 22-inch chromed, diamond-forged alloy wheels in tires size 295/25/22.

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Bentley Says it Has 2,000 Advance Orders for SUV, Crewe and Bratislava Plants Compete to Build It

Bentley’s CEO, Wolfgang Schreiber, revealed that Bentley has already received 2,000 advanced orders for its upcoming SUV, despite the fact that the car's final styling and price are still unknown.

Although the SUV has not been officially approved yet for production, Schreiber said the project has passed a series of green lights, with only a few hurdles remaining - one of which is where it will be built.

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Anderson Germany Hits Bentley Continental GT F/L with its Power Stick

The facelifted Bentley Continental GT coupe that was launched on the market in 2011 has fallen into the tuning hands of Anderson Germany, which has prepared a raft of performance and visual upgrades for the luxury model. Read more »

New Flying Spur and 2014 Mulsanne Highlight Bentley's Geneva Motor Show Presence

For a niche brand in the luxury car segment, Bentley sure has plenty to offer to visitors at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show that runs until March 17, as it chose the Swiss event for the world premiere of the new Flying Spur and the enhanced 2014 model year Mulsanne flagship, as well as the European debut of the GT Speed Convertible. Read more »

Geneva-Bound Sanguis is a Bentley Continental GT Fettled by Mansory

Compared to its other offerings at the 83rd Geneva Motor Show, the Mansory Sanguis, i.e. the German tuning brand’s take on the new Bentley Continental GT, is pretty restrained.

Then again, that’s probably because the Bentley coupe is a much more subtle car to start with than the Aventador or the F12berlinetta that also received the Mansory touch and will join the Sanguis at the show.

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New Bentley Flying Spur Bows Ahead of the Geneva Motor Show [Photos & Videos]

The 2014 Bentley Flying Spur. was one of two new cars we had the opportunity to show you earlier today before their official unveiling, the other one being the Audi RS Q3.

You probably noticed that we have not used the Continental moniker. That's because Bentley doesn't either, even though the car is essentially a redesign of the outgoing Continental Flying Spur and continues to be a sibling of the Continental GT coupe and Continental GTC convertible models, which have already been updated.

While it continues to use the underpinnings of the Continental Flying Spur, the new model has received a complete exterior makeover, with the only part of the car that reminds you of its roots, being the front end with the quad headlamps and cross-hair chrome grille. Then again, even the headlights have a new shape and now feature jewel-like LEDs.

The lowered roofline, the sharper and more sculpted lines on the profile and the squatted rear end with rectangular tail light clusters, give the Flying Spur an edgier and more dynamic look than the rounder Continental sedan.

It's not only about the styling, though, as changes made to the body structure with the use of lighter materials and additional weight savings throughout the car, make the Flying Spur 50 kg (110 pounds) lighter than the first generation car, despite offering "additional refinement measures, enhanced technology specification and stronger structure", as stated by Bentley.

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