Bentley is a legend among English carmakers. The company, founded more than 100 years ago, has put its winged logo on some of the most beautiful, luxurious, and powerful vehicles to grace the world’s roads. These days, Bentley is also in the process of going all-electric, but, in many ways, business for Bentley is better than ever, with 15,174 Bentleys sold in 2022, the first time the automaker ever sold more than 15,000 cars. That was driven largely by the popularity of the Bentayga, Bentley’s SUV, though the company remains proud that its deepest roots are in racing, on top of decades of experience making some of the world’s most luxurious roadgoing cars.
That’s reflected in today’s Bentley, too, with around a third of sales in 2022 being its Continental and Continental GT, a model name that has been around at Bentley since 1952. A similar proportion of Bentleys sold are Flying Spurs, with a majority of those sold in the U.K. being hybrids. That is a hint to Bentley’s future, as it transitions into an EV company. Bentley has said the future of Bentley is all-electric, if not by 2030 then within a few years after.
Bentley’s first all-electric is thought to be coming sometime in 2025, and will be a new evolution for a resilient company that has survived for over a century through adaptation and also, in many ways, not adapting at all. Bentley is still just one of a handful of ultra-luxury car marques, with Rolls-Royce its primary competitor, along with, to a lesser extent, Mercedes-Maybach.
It didn’t start that way, though; Bentley’s earliest days were full of scrappy racing determination. Let’s look at the history of Bentley to understand more about how this revered car company ended up where it is today.
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Bentley’s founder raced motorcycles and worked on railroads
Image Credit: Topical Press Agency Walter Owen Bentley, who went by “W.O.”, had a fascinating career before founding his car company. Born in London, at 16 years old he took an apprenticeship with the Great Northern Railway to learn how to design and manufacture locomotives. As a young man, he raced motorcycles, joining Indian Motorcycles’ factory racing team in 1910 and competing twice at the Isle of Man TT. But soon, his fascination with cars would draw him away from motorcycles and the railroad.
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A paperweight inspired Bentley to design car engines
Image Credit: Hulton Archive In 1912, W.O. and his brother Horace (who went by “H.M.”—the family loved their initials) started Bentley and Bentley, a dealership selling French-built DFP cars. While touring the DFP factory, W.O. noticed an aluminum paperweight on a tabletop, which inspired him to design lightweight aluminum pistons for a DFP race car. The modified car set multiple speed records at Brooklands race track in 1913 and 1914.
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Bentley’s first engines powered WWI fighter planes
Image Credit: Terry Disney When World War I broke out in 1914, W.O. Bentley collaborated with the Royal Naval Air Service to put his aluminum-alloy piston design into aircraft engines. The lightweight pistons helped engines run cooler and faster, improving performance and reliability. With engineering assistance from the Royal Navy, W.O. designed the BR1 engine that powered most of the Sopwith Camel fighter planes used by British forces. W.O. was awarded the MBE for his contribution to the British war effort.
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Bentley launched with massive racing success
Image Credit: Fox Photos In 1919, W.O. opened the doors of Bentley Motors Limited in London. From the start, his car company had a singular focus on racing. The first production Bentley automobile was delivered in 1921, but Bentley’s earliest successes were on the racetrack. A Bentley took 13th place in the 1922 Indianapolis 500, and Bentley won the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times between 1924 and 1930.
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The Bentley Boys
Image Credit: Central Press During the 1920s, Bentley became the automaker of choice for a raucous group of wealthy British car enthusiasts and racing drivers that would become known as The Bentley Boys. This crew included professional racing drivers, horse racers, playboys, millionaire heirs, and daredevils. The Bentley Boys entered their cars in races throughout Europe, bolstering the company’s image for building fast, tough machines. The most famous of these stunts was when Woolf Barnato, heir to a diamond fortune and then the chairman of Bentley, raced his 6 ½ Litre Bentley against The Blue Train, a luxury train line that ferried wealthy English customers between Calais and the French Riviera, and won.
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There was a secret takeover by Rolls-Royce
Image Credit: Central Press The market crash of 1929 severely reduced the market for expensive automobiles, and by 1931 Bentley was bankrupt. Rival companies bid for the chance to take over Bentley, but the winning bid was placed by an organization called British Central Equitable Trust. Only after the deal was completed was it revealed that British Central Equitable Trust was actually bidding on behalf of rival British automaker Rolls-Royce, which would maintain control over Bentley until 1970. From the 1930s to the early 2000s, most Bentley models were largely based on Rolls-Royce offerings.
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Volkswagen took over in 1998
Image Credit: Scott Olson In 1998, BMW moved to purchase Rolls-Royce. The transaction was complicated, in part because Rolls-Royce was operating a carmaker, an airplane engine maker, a military equipment supplier, and Bentley, among other holdings. As part of the arrangement, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars was separated from Bentley, with the latter company being sold to Volkswagen.
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Bentley returns to Le Mans in 2001
Image Credit: Clive Rose Bentley had withdrawn from racing in 1930, but under Volkswagen ownership, the company returned to racing. The EXP Speed 8 was a mid-engine closed-cockpit race car competing in the LMGTP class. The Speed 8 debuted at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2001, and won the race outright in 2003.
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The last W12, and the electric future
In April 2024, Bentley built its last W12 engine, after selling more than 100,000 examples of the compact and complex 12-cylinder. The change came as part of Bentley’s commitment to becoming a fully electric automaker by 2030, launching one new EV each year starting in 2025.
