Bentley Motors UK secures £ 3 million govt grant

Bentley has secured the second grant from the British government’s Business Regional Growth Fund (RGF) this year. Earlier the company had received £ 1.68 m to create additional manufacturing jobs and training. Luxury car maker Bentley is one of the few automotive companies in the UK who undertakes all their activities in one site. Every Bentley in UK car is designed, engineered and built in their Crewe site in Cheshire. Bentley is the third largest investor in R&D in the UK. 

The new grant will facilitate development of new powertrains so as to produce products to export to emerging export markets. Wolfgang Durheimer, the Chairman and Chief Executive of Bentley spoke about the grant by saying, “This is a real boost for Bentley which has one of the most highly skilled automotive workforces in the country and, uniquely, has now been awarded two RGF grants. It shows that the Government recognizes the importance of Bentley and the contribution we make to high value manufacturing and UK exports. Our customers expect the very best in terms of exclusivity, technology, quality and engineering excellence which requires significant ongoing investment in R&D. This is why we retain such a strong engineering capability exclusively for Bentley here in the UK. This grant will help safeguard those operations as we look to develop new powertrains which appeal to new markets and new customers.”

Over 80% of Bentley cars produced are exported. And all its export markets are experiencing growing demand for their cars. Emerging markets such as China are increasingly accounting for higher sales figures, by the end of September 2011, China had accounted for 1000 cars and the market is expected to grow by a staggering 80% a year.

Traditionally, emerging markets were experiencing demand for four door sedans like the Mulsanne and Continental Flying Spur from Bentley but now these markets are also experiencing demand for two door coupes like the GT and the GTC. The recent grant will be used to develop powertrains for Bentley’s coupes so that the company can meet further growth in demand.