BENTLEY SPOTTING

It's the Rolls-Royce of Bentley websites.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Bentley and Dirk Van Braeckel



Dirk Van Braeckel is the chief for designer for Bentley, previously Rolls Royce and Bentley.

He is a Belgian, is 49 years old and studied at one of the first specialist car design schools, the Royal College of Art.


His career started as an apprentice at Ford, then in 1984 moved to the Volkswagen Group (VAG), were he worked for Audi. Then in 1993 the then boss of VAG Ferdinand Piëch made Van Braeckel the chief designer for Skoda.

He then went about completely redesigning the entire range for Skoda.

This is an example of the concept car the Skoda Octavia Coupe by Van Braeckel. Look familiar?



In 1998 Ferdinand Piëch then made Van Braeckel the chief designer for the another VAG brand Bentley. His mission was to design a more sportier car that was cheaper than the Arnage that would sell in higher volume. There is what he came up with. The Bentley Continental GT.



Now lets look at the Skoda from another angle and compare.



Now the Continental GT. Think he resubmitted his previous work?



From the back.



There is definitely a hint of resemblance.



Well it is from the same pen.

Pictures courtesy (Car Design News, Bentley Long Island, Skoda) Reference (Business Week)

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