Bentley Factory Tour & Drive
Article originally published in Issue 11 of The Mud Life Magazine
I'm a member of the Northern Group of Motoring Writers, and back in January 2020 we were invited to Crewe, to the home of Bentley Motor Cars, not only for a factory tour, but a chance to drive a car or two.
The day began at 9.30am, and after a quick company presentation we were led off in two groups, one would take a selection of cars out, the other, my group, would have a whistle-stop tour of the factory. I say a whistle-stop tour as we only had 2 hours as opposed to the normal full day.
Our guide for the morning was a former trim shop employee, and like everyone else we spoke to, both in the sales department and factory floor, was both incredibly knowledgeable and enthusiastic for the brand.
Before we ventured onto the factory floor, he shared with us Bentley’s commitment to sustainable energy with the installation of the UK’s largest ever solar car port. This means that all electricity used to manufacture every Bentley is solar or certified green.
They’ve installed 10,000 solar panels, which have a capacity of 2.7MW, cover 1,378 car parking spaces and an area of 16,426m², enough to cover two football pitches. The system could reduce CO2 by 3,300 tonnes per year.
Everyone knows that a Bentley simply wouldn’t be complete without beautiful wood inlays, which is where we began our tour. I was aware that it must take a while to produce seamless and flawless veneers, but I was genuinely astounded, not only by the selection on offer, but the time, expertise and dedication it takes to produce them.
The veneer storage room alone has around £700,000 worth of the very finest burr walnut pieces in stock, and for every tree felled, another three are planted in its place.
Next was the the leather shop. Did you know that most of the hides come from Scandinavia? This is because they hardly use barbed wire so the chances of imperfections in the hides are limited, and each hide is traceable back to its farm of origin. Our guide shared with us that a Continental will require 8 or 9 hides, whereas the Mulsanne will use between 15 to 17.
Insanely, Bentley will us over 2,000 hides each week, and after they’ve been precision cut by a row of machines and any usable offcuts are shipped to China where they’ll be made into fashion items and accessories.
We stopped for a moment to watch employees create steering wheels by hand, from feeding on the leather to stitching by hand - amazing stuff.
Up until now, pretty much everything had been made by skilled hands, and often by second or third generation employees, but our last stop was the main production line where we weren’t allowed to take photos, sadly.
We were told that a normal production line would be one straight line from beginning to end, but because of the limited space at Crewe, the line not only doubled back on itself, but was raised in certain areas to allow for walkways
Apparently, a Continental takes 2 days to make its way up and down the production line, whereas the Mulsanne requires 5 or 6. Can’t remember how long a Bentayga takes, sorry.
After lunch, and before we chose our cars for the afternoon drive, it was announced that after ten years or so, production of the Mulsanne was to end this spring. Taking over the mantle would be the third generation Flying Spur.
Starting at just over £163,000, the new Flying Spur in designed to be the ultimate continental cruiser, with a 0-60mph time of just 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 207mph makes it the fastest 4-door saloon in the world.
Like some weird party from the seventies (so I’m told), I was asked to reach into a bowl and pick a car fob, and as I fumbled around I eventually snatched the key for the Bentayga Speed, which happens to be the world's fastest SUV.
As I had the key, Steve, my driving partner for the afternoon, decided I should drive first.
The Bentayga is a big SUV, no doubt, an observation you only notice whilst you’re stood looking at it and trying to thread your way through small villages with cars parked on either side of the road, but everywhere else it felt, normal.
From town centres to motorways and fast country lanes, you’re always isolated from the hustle outside, yes there’s a faint growl from the muscular W12, but there’s a certain serenity about it. When you bury your right foot down into the carpet, the 626bhp, 6.0 litre W12 engine makes the world seems to blur past like the Millennium Falcon entering light speed, and gravity pushes you back into the armchair-like seats - it’s outrageously quick!
Driving the Bentayga is like driving a saloon, there’s hardly any body roll and its driving position is similar too, with the dash in front of you and narrow windows, unlike a Range Rover in which you know you’re high up as you’re looking down on everything.
Swapping over midway through our drive it was my turn to be chauffeured, and it was equally comfortable, simply wafting along the Cheshire roads enjoying the views. After our jaunt I didn’t bother checking the fuel consumption, mainly ‘cos I couldn’t figure out how, but it’s a Bentley, so who cares?
A huge thanks goes out to our chairman, Andy Harris of the Yorkshire Times, for organising the day, and of course Bentley for accommodating us.
