AMAGE – 1999-09
Although outwardly identical to Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph, which used the German firm’s V12 engine from the 7-Series, the Bentley Amage gained BM W’s 4.4-litre V8 but running two turbochargers for a more sporty 350bhp result.
The final years of the outgoing Millennium were a complicated time for Rolls- Royce though. The same year the Amage was launched saw Vickers decide to dispose of the brand and first in line was Volkswagen who outbid BM W, but later discovered it didn’t own the rights to the name, which remained with RollsRoyce the aero- engine maker.
Since BM W already supplied engines for the Seraph and was also in business with Rolls- Royce in aero engines, it held all the cards and ended up licensing the name, while Volkswagen took the Crewe factory and the Bentley brand, claiming it had wanted the higher-volume badge all along. BM W would supply engines to build Rolls- Royces until 2002 when the new Phantom would be produced at Rolls- Royce’s current Goodwood home.
Volkswagen clearly wasn’t happy to use BM W’s engines and so the Arnage was hastily re- engineered in 1999 to take a modified version of the old Rolls- Royce V8, the car badged as Arnage Red Label. The BM W- engined car continued until 2000 as the Green label. A more thorough redesign of the old V8 was completed for the 2001 model year, first installed in the long-wheelbase Arnage RL and subsequently the Arnage R and more sporting Arnage T.
The Arnage was itself replaced in 2009 by a revival of the Mulsanne name for an all-new car that gained much from VW’s considerable resources but still used the evergreen V8, albeit in much modified form.