BENTLEY SPOTTING

It's the Rolls-Royce of Bentley websites.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Bentley Sales in Australia



The Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries collect data on all automotives sold in Australia. Tabulated below is the Bentley, Rolls Royce and Maybach sales in Australia this century.



sales figures

An article in The Age, Melbourne's broadsheet speculated on the sale of Aston Martin to James Packer, but also interestingly quoted the Bentley and Rolls Royce sales of the late 90's.


In 1997 Lindsey Fox, who owns a massive car collection, housed at the FoxCollection and also has a wing dedicated to the Sir Henry Royce Foundation became the Rolls Royce and Bentley dealer for Australia. It did not go to plan and lost millions, due to extremely low sales.


The sales were as follows, 25 units of both marques in 1996, 11 cars in 1997, 15 units in 1998 and then only nine in 1999, five Rolls Royces and four Bentleys.


Therefore from the years 1996 - 2003 only 149 Rolls Royce and Bentley cars were sold, an average 16.5 per year. From the population of Australia, this equates to only one person in a million to purchase a Rolls Royce or Bentley during this time. Interesting.


The conflict of ownership of Crewe and the Rolls Royce brand by VW and BMW obviously affected the market, as did no real new models from 1981 till 1997, besides the bodies of the Continental.


The boost in sales in 2003 came from the introduction of the Continental GT and the new Phantom. Maybach on the other hand has not been a hit in Australia due to the price justification compared to the S class, and well the concierge service, come on. Which self respecting Aussie would call a European call centre to ask for directions on where to get a meat pie and a cherry ripe on the way home from the pub? This is Australia by the way. Rolls Royces became popular in Australia because they were tough and could survive in the bush - and you could still make them into utes.


So in summary, simply on sales figures it makes this 2000 Rolls Royce Silver Seraph current for sale rare. There was only one other Rolls Royce sold that year.



Seraph

It has travelled 30,000km and is labelled as Emerald Green, but you could not tell from the, well really bad, and even unworthy photography.




After one minutes of photoshop it looks a little better, but the colour is very overexposed.





The asking price is $295,000 and according the Red Book the price when new was $541,030. They quote a trade in, and national average price guide but really where is their source of data?


The same dealer is selling this 1998 Bentley Arnage with 40,000km for $199,500. Even with the 4.4lt BMW V8 engine it represents better value.





I plan to analyse the Bentley market in Australia armed with these sales figures in the future.

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Saturday, January 20, 2007

Bentley Lingerie



Yes there is such a thing. But not a flying B on the posterior. Rather a very well fitted 'car bra'. And it works as well as a push up.



They are known as the Protector and come from the fantastically named Proper Motor Car (PMC) company in Georgia USA.



Joel Foreman who designed the bras and runs the company owns the Bentley S1 pictured, and made then out of necessity.



'I wanted a proper ‘bra’ that would protect the Bentley on my trips – particularly from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’. Upon arrival at my destination, I would want to be able to easily remove the ‘bra’, store it for the duration of my stay, and then, easily re-attach the ‘bra’ for the return trip home.'

It is good to hear that they are easily removable, as all bras should.

Pictures courtesy www.pmccovers.com

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Friday, January 19, 2007

Touring in the GTC



The people at Driven Magazine have taken a new Bentley Continental GTC on a three day tour from Las Vegas, Nevada to Aspen, Colorado.

Day 1

Las Vegas, NV to Sedona, AZ - 530Km



Day 2

Sedona, AZ to Moab, UT - 723 Km



Day 3

Moab, UT - Apsen, CO - 440 Km



In 2005 I drove from San Diego to New York city, but caught a large Lear jet from Las Vegas to Colorado Springs, so missed out on this drive. From this video it looks much more interesting than South Dakota! Was not in a Bentley though, but in rented cars, the most interesting being a Lincoln Towncar dubbed Lenny the Land Yacht.

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Friday, January 12, 2007

Another Musical Interlude from a Car Nut



Following Elton John's Nikita we have another car lover who features their own cars in their videos.

This time it is Jay Kay from the band Jamiroquai with the song Love Foolosophy.





Its a top song with a great Bentley S1 Drop Head Coupe (Convertible), babes in bikinis, some drinking and partying.

Can't go wrong!

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Saturday, January 06, 2007

A Peep Inside the Engine Bay



Courtesy of Youtube user Bentleystow, who by the way has an English Setter called Bentley, shows us inside the engine bay of his beautiful Bentley.





He also has filmed his Bentley at a number of places of interest whilst humming.

The 2007 Arnage now has the option of a 'Flying B' hood mascot which is retractable, a la Rolls Royce New Phantom.

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James May's Bentley T2

As Top Gear is starting a new season this month, here is the introduction of James May with his own personal review of his Bentley T2.



Hopefully this one works!




"A Bentley, well it's a Bentley"

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Bentley Driving School

Ever wondered what it would be like to do the chauffeurs course at Bentley?

Here is a small taste.



'A tyre may pick up a nail left from the working classes'

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Bentley Hollywood Trailer

Jermery Clarkson's review of the Bentley Arnage T.



"Bentley - fear beyond your wildest dreams.
In a Bentley, no one can hear you scream.
AHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh."

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