A close-up look at the home of the Continental GT, Flying Spur, Bentayga and the Mulsanne
- Illustrious past, high-tech future
- Come inside
- Got wood
- Leather of sweat
- Re-visit Best Of British 2016
Illustrious past, high-tech future
It’s with great irony that Bentley’s Crewe factory was strategically built 300km north-east of London in a 60-acre potato farm specifically to keep the Germans away.
Funnier still for the proud British brand, the factory didn’t even begin life as a car plant at all, but a place to build aero engines. Rolls-Royce Merlins, to be precise.
Despite all this, 80 years since construction began at Pyms Lane, it’s now Bentleys that roll off the production line — not Rolls-Royces — and instead of bombing it, the Germans now own the place.
Incognito
Perhaps disappointingly, despite all that heritage, compared to Aston Martin’s sandstone temple or Rolls-Royce’s glass cathedral, when it comes to aesthetics Bentley’s HQ lacks visual impact.
Apparently, its low-key approach also extends to its aerial view, which was designed to look like terrace housing to the Luftwaffe, not the location where 15,000 fire-spitting, angry Merlin engines rolled off the line to be united with Hurricanes, Spitfires and Lancaster bombers.
When peace finally came and production eventually switched to cars in 1946, by chance, the first car to roll down the production line was a Bentley Mk VI.
OK, who cares the Mk IV was actually little more than a shortened, rebadged Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith, because around these parts its birth is judged as almost prophetic.
Of course, the Bentley believers had to wait until 2002 for the very last Roller to trundle off the line but, as they say, good things come to those who wait.
Come inside
Today, the Bentley factory remains an exceedingly good place to spend time.
In fact, despite its lack of exterior bling, within it is a beguiling blend of olde-world car manufacturing that somehow hasn’t been sanitised by its surroundings.
This is despite Volkswagen’s best efforts to modernise it, investing an incredible $2 billion in the plant to introduce state-of-the-art production techniques.
Even then, it wasn’t (almost) enough. Originally, the Bentayga SUV was set to be built in Bratislava, Slovakia, where the Porsche Cayenne, Audi Q7 and VW Touareg are assembled.
That was until a last-ditch effort by the British luxury car-maker proved it had the right skills, techniques and knowhow to build it better than the flagship VW plant.
Got wood
The fit, finish and sheer quality of all its products, including the recent Continental GT, appears to suggest it was the right — and if you want to find a clear-cut case of how Bentley manages to make cars like the Mulsanne feel like, well, a million dollars, look no further than the wood shop.
With the pressure to build more than 10,000 cars annually, Bentley employs an incredible 152 workers to hand-make the 152 wood veneers needed for each vehicle to get the finish owners deserve.
But instead of just relying on humans, Bentley has engineered an advanced robot to apply the micro-thin layers of lacquer with the sort of precision that the human eye could never achieve.
The incredible attention to detail also extends to the way the wood actually feels, with polishing done by yet another team of master craftsmen and women who finish the job by hand.
Leather of sweat
It’s a similar story in the leather and trim shop, where Bentley hasn’t shied away from using age-old craftsman like those who worked on the very first Bentley that rolled off the line.
By the time we reach the body assembly line, in truth, the Crewe factory looks just like any other modern car factory I’ve been to.
And in the world of low-volume luxury car-making, that’s a credit to the enormous investment made by Volkswagen.
So, at the end of the line, on the day I visited, 4000 factory workers managed to make just 30 Bentaygas, 29 Continentals and four Mulsanne limousines — a total of just 63 cars.
On the very same day Nissan’s Sunderland plant, which employs twice as many employees as Bentley, churned out an incredible 1600 cars.
It’s then that I begin to appreciate the time, thought and care lavished on every Bentley that rolls off the line.
After just a few hours spent with the passionate, talented men and women who mostly hand-make every Bentley on sale today, I’ll never look at a Bentayga the same way again.
Re-visit Best Of British 2016
Keyword: Best of Bentley: Crewe factory visit