About Bentley Cars
 Bentley Motors Ltd was founded in 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley, a young engineer who had already had some success in the design and manufacture of aircraft engines. Development of Bentley's first car, the Bentley 3 litre, took longer than expected and it was not actually available until September 1921.
Money troubles dogged the company from day one, and in 1925 the millionaire Woolf Barnato bailed out Bentley and became it's new chairman. Despite his best efforts and huge wealth, the great depression of the 1920's beat Bentley, as there was no longer any demand for their luxury cars. In 1931 the company was sold to Rolls Royce.
The deal was done in secret using a proxy company called British Central Equitable Trust, as a result no-one knew the true identity of the purchaser. And so Bentley Motors(1931) Ltd was born. The next Bentley, the 3½ litre, was produced in 1933 and was a sporty version of the Rolls-Royce 20/25. By this time Walter Bentley was no more than an employee, and in 1935 he left the company to join Lagonda. Production of Bentley's was moved to the Rolls Royce factory in Derby.
After the war production of Bentley and Rolls Royce was moved to Crewe, but gradually through the 1970's and 1980's the designs of the two marques began to blend and Bentley tended to become the 'cheaper' or 'poor mans' Rolls Royce. But in 1970 the parent company was in trouble and so the car division was separated off and became known as Rolls Royce Motors Ltd. This is how it remained until 1980 when the company was bought by Vickers. It was around this time that Bentley once more became an individual high performance marque with the launch of the Mulsanne.
In 1998 Vickers sold the company to Volkswagen for £430 million, after winning a bidding war with BMW. However, after some confusion as to who exactly owned the Rolls Royce name, and whether or not it was included in the sale price, Volkwagen and BMW entered into further negotiations.
It was finally agreed that VW would be entitled to produce both Bentley and Rolls Royce cars until the end of 2002, whilst licensing the name from Rolls Royce plc. After that the right to build Rolls Royce cars would pass to BMW, who would also licence the brand from Rolls Royce plc. Sales of Bentley cars continue to increase and in 2007 the company passed the 10,000 cars sold in a year landmark for the first time.
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