Bentley at this time introduced that it has formally opened the Heritage Storage, a brand new area designed to deal with 22 basic vehicles from its 103 yr historical past. The brand new storage will due to this fact be house to a good portion of Bentley’s Heritage Assortment.
The area now incorporates vehicles courting way back to 1919, however in the end the intention is to restrict the contents to autos inbuilt Crewe. This means it’s going to finally solely home autos made after 1946.
The selection of location for the Heritage Storage is becoming as it’s positioned within the authentic Thirties brickworks which was finally used as an ‘undertaking discussion board’. There, are autos such because the 2003 Continental GT have been deliberately developed.
Situated within the coronary heart of Bentley’s present manufacturing unit, workers can see the historical past of the model as they stroll by the construction. Along with housing basic vehicles, it’s going to even be used as an occasion area for displays, press conferences, and extra.
“As we proceed to evolve, we wish our visitors and colleagues from all components of the corporate to have the ability to share the wealthy historical past of Bentley Motors,” stated Mike Sayer, Head of Bentley’s Heritage Assortment. “The Heritage Storage brings that historical past to life and means we will actively reference our previous as we chart the course for our future.”
Bentley’s Heritage Assortment is now 42 vehicles in dimension and incorporates a number of the most exceptional moments in its historical past. It contains the EXP2, the second Bentley ever made (and the oldest surviving), in addition to the Bentley Mark VI, the primary automobile ever to depart the Crewe manufacturing unit.
When accomplished, Bentley’s Heritage Assortment shall be housed in three places. The oldest autos inbuilt Cricklewood (1919-1931) and Derby (1931-1939) are preserved within the quickly to-be-redeveloped CW1 home. The Crewe-built fashions are saved within the Heritage Storage and the eight trendy motorsports vehicles (together with the Pace 8s, the Ice Pace Document vehicles, and the Pikes Peak report automobile) are proven on a separate show.
“Now that we have rebuilt the gathering to totally map our historical past, we stay dedicated to including to it with each main new mannequin we launch,” stated Sayer. “For instance, the Assortment now contains the 2019 Bentayga Hybrid, which was each the first-ever plug-in hybrid Bentley and a vital step in our ‘Beyond100’ technique in the direction of electrification.”