Founded by W.O. Bentley in 1919, Bentley Motors was originally a performance brand which would take five 24 Hours of Le Mans titles between 1924 and 1930. This was also known as the age of the “Bentley Boys”, a group of wealthy English socialites who would be behind the wheel of each winning entry. Bentley’s sports cars quickly built a reputation for being the world’s biggest and best, drawing ire from other builders such as Ettore Bugatti, who once commented that Bentley built “the world’s fastest lorries”.
Despite the numerous race victories, Bentley’s ownership had been in financial difficulty since the mid 20s, and spurred by the onset of the Great Depression was forced to sell the company to Rolls-Royce in 1931. In 1998 Bentley became a subsidiary of Volkswagen, and would return to racing after a 71 year hiatus in 2001. The Bentley Speed 8 would take third in ‘01, then fourth the following year, and win Bentley’s sixth Le Mans title in 2003.
In 2002 Bentley introduced the new Continental GT. The new GT would combine stunning modern style with staggering performance for a vehicle its size. Demand for the GT was far greater than expected, and waiting times of over a year were common. Due to this backlog, the new Continental Flying Spur had to be built at the Transparent Factory, although since 2006 all Bentley production has reverted to the plant at Crewe. In 2007 Bentley sold 10,000 cars for the first time in its 88 year history, and also announced a record profit of €155 million.