Best of British: Why Bentley is booming - gallery
Our man Ken Gibson meets Bentley boss Wolfgang Durheimer at HQ in Cheshire to see how the luxury car brand is pushing the boundaries and expanding, whilst remaining exclusive like it always has done.
"Boss Durheimer has a firm grasp of what makes Bentley a special car firm, but intends stretching the boundaries."
Bentley was taken over by the Volkswagen Group in 1998 at a cost of £480million when it was making just 500 cars per year.
"Bentley's British workforce has grown from 1,000 in 1998 to nearly 4,000, including a further 500 jobs for apprentices and engineers this year." This will be thanks in no small part to Bentley venturing into the SUV market with the ne
The Bentley Training island is situated alongside the factory production lines so that new recruits can get a hands-on introduction into building a Bentley.
Sumptuous trim for one Bentley is laid out in order, ready to be fitted to customers' exacting standards.
Our man Gibson gets some hands-on experience on the Bentley production line.
Master Trainer Colin Jackson has been working at Bentley for over 40 years, and now passes his skills onto a new generation of craftsmen, like apprentice Ryan Whally.
The Bentley factory in Crewe has become a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant at a cost of £1billion to help deliver the new generation of Bentley cars.
Bentley has created an innovative training facility adjacent to the production line where apprentices learn the skills of the job.
"It's the skilled workforce Durheimer believes gives Bentley the X factor, plus the exceptional cars it produces."
Bentley is investing a lot of money not only in the latest generation of vehicles, but also in the latest generation of workers and apprentices for the future.
State-of-the-art facilities are all over the Crewe factory to ensure Bentley's reputation for high-quality cars is maintained.
The Bentayga represents Bentley's future, and the production line is full of the SUV that's aiming to take the brand's annual sales to around 20,000.
Durheimer says the Bentayga is stretching the boundaries, and it's also due to debut Bentley's first diesel engine.
Most Popular

BMW 128ti vs Volkswagen Golf GTI

Jaguar platform sharing talks and upmarket move revealed

Volvo XC40 Recharge gets extra range in first over-the-air update