On this day...January 18th

Bentley Motor Company

The early days of motor manufacturing were populated by enthusiasts and engineers: W.O. Bentley was both. He raced cars at Brooklands , customising French vehicles to improve performance. And his hands-on engineering pedigree was excellent, apprenticeship in the railway industry followed by innovative work in the aviation field, designing the BR-1 aero engine for the Sopwith Camel, among other planes, reducing cost and weight by incorporating aluminium as he had with his racing cars.

January 18th 1919

With WWI over Bentley was free to follow his dream of manufacturing cars; and not just any cars, his stated aim from the outset was: "To build a good car, a fast car, the best in class." The prototypes, 3 litre models, were made in 1919 in a workshop off London's Baker Street, in New Street Mews, with production soon afterwards in Cricklewood . The depression and consequent financial problems – though these were not new for the company – saw it sold to an anonymous holding company that proved a front for Rolls Royce , eager to control a top-table rival.

Pyms Lane Crewe

The Pyms lane factory was built in 1938, originally to manufacture the Merlin aero engine – 26,065 engines were built between 1938 and 1946. Car production commenced at Crewe in 1946, the first Bentley to roll off the production line was the Mark V1.

The Bentley Motors factory is a fully integrated site – all aspects of car production from Design, Engineering, Manufacture, Quality, and Sales & Marketing take place in Crewe.

The site covers an area of 521,111m2 , with 166,930m2 indoors. 20,815 solar panels on Bentley's factory roof can supply up to 40% of the site's electrical requirements.

There is a certain irony in Bentley, begun by the man whose aero engine was a significant factor in Germany's defeat in WWI, being owned since 1998 by the archetypal German car company Volkswagen.

Today's question is – how many cars did Bentley deliver during 2016?

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