Georg Kacher on Bentley under Audi control
Audi will take over managerial responsibility for Bentley within the VW Group on 1 January. It may sound like a book-keeping technicality, but the repercussions will be felt throughout the product line-up. Bentley had a stellar 2019, with growing sales and improved e ciency encouraging VW to leave it to its own devices. But Covid has set it back, and a prospective hard Brexit isn’t helping. Group CEO Herbert Diess says: ‘Bentley is still not out of the woods. The marque must leverage its potential to speedily overcome the challenges this industry and the other members of our group are facing.’ Bentley is bound to be an additional burden for the team at Audi, due to the complex and delicate politics of the relevant steering committees in Germany, where timing, budget and strategy will be decided.
Since the recent demise of the Mulsanne, all Bentley products have componentry
and architecture shared with other VW Group products, but that will go up a gear under Audi leadership. The first fruit is likely to be an all-electric luxury crossover. The Audi variation on the same theme, expected in 2024, is understood to be based on the Landjet concept and is likely to sit above the A8. There should also be a sportier Porsche spin-o .
The plan is for the luxury EV crossover to be the first of a series of collaborative premium projects. Diess says that ‘Bentley’s insular existence must give way to a more multi-layered partnership. Integration is key here – but so is maximum di erentiation.’
New Bentley R&D chief Matthias Rabe and chief designer Stefan Siela are busy honing the brand image by creating stand-out products, but now with less overt opulence. This change of attitude is every bit as important as these still-tobe-qualified synergies.