Bentley Crewe
Interactive map of the Bentley Crewe area
General information
Type	Office,car factory
Location	Crewe, Cheshire, England
Coordinates	53°6′14.66″N2°28′20.47″W / 53.1040722°N 2.4723528°W /53.1040722; -2.4723528
Current tenants	3,500 employees[2]
Management	Bentley Motors
Technical details
Structural system	Steel frame/brick
Floor area	166,930 m2 (1,796,800 sq ft)[1]
Grounds	521,111 m2 (5,609,190 sq ft)[1]

Bentley Crewe, also named thePyms Lane site after the street it is located on, is the headquarters and design and manufacturing centre ofBentley Motors Limited on the outskirts ofCrewe,Cheshire,England. The site covers an area of 521,111 m² (5,609,190 sq ft), of which 166,930 m² (1,796,800 sq ft) is indoors.^[1]

In preparation forWorld War II, Rolls-Royce and theBritish government searched for a location for ashadow factory to ensure production of aero-engines.^[3] Crewe, with its excellent road and rail links, as well as being located in thenorthwest away from theaerial bombing starting in mainland Europe, was a logical choice. Crewe also had extensive open farming land. Construction of the factory started on a 60-acre area on thepotato fields of Merrill's Farm in July 1938, with the firstRolls-Royce Merlin aero-engine rolling off the production line five months later. A total 25,000 Merlin engines were produced, employing 10,000 people at its peak in 1943.^[4]

With the war in Europe over and the general move towards the then newjet engines, Rolls-Royce concentrated its aero engine operations atDerby and moved motor car operations to Crewe.

In 1946 the factory produced its first motor car, the Ivan Evernden designedBentley Mark VI^{[note 1]} which was based on the short livedBentley Mark V. It was the first Bentley (or Rolls-Royce) with a standard pressed-steel body rather than different bodies designed and made by bespoke coach builders. The Bentley Mark VI was the most successful Bentley ever manufactured: Crewe produced more than 5,000 Mark VIs, which equaled the total number of Bentleys made in the 20 years before World War II.

The Derby designedBentley R Type was produced until 1955 when it was succeeded by theBentley S1/Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, the first car wholly designed, developed, and built at Crewe. It was also the last Bentley fitted with a six-cylinder engine. Its successor, theBentley S2, used the Crewe designed and developed 6.25-litre, all-aluminium,Rolls-Royce V8 engine, which has remained in production in various forms ever since.

While the Bentley R-Type and S-Type differed significantly from the corresponding Rolls-Royce models, the 1965Bentley T-series/Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow differed only in badges and radiator grills. The Bentley models even used a Rolls-Royce badged engine. As a result, fewer Bentleys were sold, making them more valuable today. TheBentley T-series/Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow were the first models withmonocoque construction and four-wheeldisc brakes.

The 1980 badge engineeredBentley Mulsanne was the last Bentley to undersell its Rolls-Royce sister, in this case theRolls-Royce Silver Spirit. When the Rolls-Royce Motor Car division was sold toVickers plc in 1980, Bentley changed its image, resulting in the 140 miles per hour (230 km/h)Bentley Mulsanne Turbo, nicknamed the "Crewe missile", which accelerated faster than someFerraris. After this point, while the two marques looked similar, Bentleys were designed to appeal typically to wealthy businessmen, while Rolls-Royce maintained their appeal to the traditional wealthy. The result was a surge in Bentley sales, which by 1985, had over taken Rolls-Royce sales for the first time since car production moved to Crewe.

1998 brought the launch of the all-newBentley Arnage/Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph, the last dual-brand model, powered by aBMW 4.4 litre twin-turbo V8 engine. The same year, Vickers announced its intention to sell its car division, which included the Bentley brand and the Crewe factory but not the Rolls-Royce brand which would return to Rolls-Royce Group in the event of a sale.

BMW,Mercedes-Benz, and theVolkswagen Group expressed interest, but Volkswagen eventually outbid BMW, while Mercedes withdrew, instead deciding to revive theMaybach brand for their luxury cars. However, BMW did buy the Rolls-Royce brand name from Rolls-Royce. They also agreed with the Volkswagen Group a handover plan, which would complete at the end of 2001.

In 2000, BMW's newRolls-Royce Motor Cars division announced that they would build anew manufacturing plant at the historicGoodwood Estate inWest Sussex.

Having been heavily underinvested for some time, Volkswagen Group invested £500M in the two years after its takeover of the Crewe plant. It also revived development on the Rolls-Royce V8 which it owned the rights to, resulting in the sub-division of theBentley Arnage into the Green-label (powered by the BMW V8), and the Red-label (powered by the redeveloped RR V8). Very quickly the Red-label out sold the Green-label, and resulted in Volkswagen further developing the engine. Today's version shares no components with the original version used in the S1, but shares its lineage and is according to director of engineering DrUlrich Eichhorn:

Today’s V8 is a descendant of the 1959 engine but massively improved. It now has over 100 percent more power, over 100 percent more torque, 40 percent less fuel consumption and produces 99.5 percent fewer emissions.

With the end of production of Rolls-Royce badged cars in 2002, the factory was redeveloped to allow an expansion of the Bentley brand through a series of new models. 2003's introduction of theBentley Continental GT was nominally to replace the previous Rolls-Royce-basedContinental R and T, but was the first Bentley-only developed vehicle since the merging of the brands in 1931. Equipped with a 5,998cubic centimetres (366.0 cu in) (6.0 litre)twin-turbochargedW12 engine, which produces aDIN-rated motivepower output of 560metric horsepower (412 kW; 552 bhp) at 6,100 rpm, andtorque of 650newton-metres (479 lbf⋅ft) at 1,600 rpm.^[5]Torsen-based permanentfour-wheel drive is standard, allowing it to accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour (0.0 to 62.1 mph) in 4.8 seconds, and go on to reach a top speed of 318 kilometres per hour (197.6 mph). 2005 saw the introduction of the 4 door derived version, theContinental Flying Spur. Due to a lack of capacity at the Crewe upon the car's introduction, some Flying Spurs destined for markets other than theUSA andUK were built atVolkswagen'sTransparent Factory inDresden, Germany. This arrangement ended in 2006, when all assembly work reverted to Crewe.

Unveiled at the 2009Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, theBentley Mulsanne is notable as the first flagship car to be independently designed by Bentley Motors in nearly 80 years; the last beingW.O. Bentley's iconic 8 litre model in 1930.^[6] Replacing the Arnage, and using a modified V8 to meetEuro V emissions regulations,^[7] the car went on sale during 2010.^[8]

Since 2015, theBentley Bentayga has been assembled at the factory.

• Bentley
• Motor vehicle assembly plants in the United Kingdom
• Buildings and structures in Crewe
• British shadow factories
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