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Volkswagen's Phaeton misadventures have been much maligned by pundits and consumers alike, der Übercruiser has afforded the company's Bentley subsidiary a nice, shiny partsbin with which to work. On the strength of these economies of scale (and use of free capacity in - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER), Bentley has managed to increase sales 31% over 2004 to 8,627 units.

Much of that increase can be attributed to the new Flying Spur sedan, but demand for the Continental GT two-door has remained robust as well. And the Bentley Boys will likely have all the work they can handle this year: an Azure drophead is slated for release in the spring, and orders ahead of production have already claimed this year's entire allotment, and a Continental GT convertible, the GTC, will greet the autumn winds.

Bentley is not expected to require space in big brother VW's Dresden plant after next year, at which time it's own Crewe factory will be able to churn out 9,000 units per year. As such, it will be interesting to see how parent Volkswagen deals with the excess capacity at its much-ballyhooed boutique assembly plant.

[Source: JustAuto]

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Mirage77

Yes, it would be interesting to see what VW will do with Dresden...

Merc1

They're going to have to figure about something because I just can't see them closing such a lavish plant and just letting it sit there. What a grand mess of money will have been wasted.

M

Mirage77

I'll still hazard a guess that VW would allow future Bentley models to be built in Dresden. Or perhaps, other high-end cars like, for example, a Lamborghini? VW could make the factory to become a central location for manufacture of high-end cars, just like an expensive & exclusive production facility.

But in the end, it's ultimately a question of whether they would continue to produce the Phaeton.

Merc1

Autoweek has a story on the next Arnage. Bentley wants it to compete with the Maybach and Rolls in the 300K range, taking it upmarket from today's car. They're also saying they want it to be sportier than those cars. Going to be hard to make a car that heavy really sporty IMO, while making it ride like a ultra-expensive car should.

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Bentley had better be damn careful with the Arange, it is the last and only car I truly adore from the "Bentley" brand nowadays.

M

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