Here are some of the most interesting facts on Bentley and Bentley cars:
- Bentley presently has around 4,000 employees worldwide.
- The luxury car manufacturer has its regional offices in UK, USA, Germany, Japan, China, Singapore, Sydney, Korea, Dubai, and Mexico with about 212 facilities spread worldwide.
- Though the company was founded in 1919, it produced only engine and chassis and no complete car for about 27 years.
- Bentley won at the 24 Hour Le Mans race for six times in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, and 2003.
- In 1930, the chairman of Bentley dared to challenge the speed of the famous Blue Train between Cannes and Calais in his Speed Six. Amazingly, he reached his club in Victoria in London four minutes before the Blue Train pulled into Calais and won the bet.
- Rolls Royce purchased financially vulnerable Bentley in 1931.
- After Rolls Royce purchased Bentley the company was moved from Cricklewood, London to Derby.
- Bentley was acquired by Volkswagen AG in 1998 with a $500 million investment programme.
- The awesome 3-litre engine was the first engine introduced by Bentley in October 1919.
- The first complete Bentley was the hand-built EXP1 prototype powered by the new 3.0-litre engine.
- The first Bentley car was sold on 21st September 1921 to a wealthy and influential playboy Noel Van Raalte.
- The Mark V designed with a 4.5-litre engine, an overdrive transmission, and independent front suspension introduced in 1930 was the first tentative hint of the present day Bentley Continental.
- Bentley recorded continuous growth year after year. In the year 2003, the company recorded global sales of 1000 cars; in 2004, it sold 6,500 cars; in 2005, 8,500 cars were sold; in 2006, 9,000 cars were sold; and in 2007 Bentley recorded sales of over 10,000 cars.
- Bentley in association with Penguin Books designed a limited edition of the new James Bond novel, Devil May Care.
- In February 2008, Bentley partnered with high-end British audio manufacturer Naim to introduce high-end in-car entertainment system in Bentley cars.
- The company spends 150 hours to manufacture a handcrafted Continental GT.
- It takes 400 hours to build the Bentley Arnage. So if Bentley employs work for 18 hours a day and they are doing nothing in between the work, it will take about 22 days to produce one Arnage.
- Every single component fitted in the Bentley car is filed on computer with all minute details so that it can be tracked back through all the development stages. This makes it easy for the engineer to change the position of a component or modify a component with respect to higher demands during the course of production.
- Veneers are matched with both book and mirror to have symmetry on either side of a Bentley's centerline.
- Every piece of glass used in a Bentley car is finished using finely powered pumice that is mainly used to polish optical lenses.
- Lacquer-spraying robots simulate human sprayers in the Paint Shop.
- Steering wheels of all Bentley cars are doubled stitched by hand with the use of two needles simultaneously.
- It takes about 15 hours to create one steering wheel as the process of creation is too complicated for a machine.
- When designing and creating the leather upholstery, a full set of leather is selected and cut at the same time. This is done to ensure that there is least variation in the texture and feel of the leather.
- It takes about 135 meters of thread to trim one Continental GT.

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