‘CREWE GENUINE’ PARTS SUPPLY FOR HERITAGE ROLLS ROYCE AND BENTLEY MODELS SECURED… JUST!

Rumours of a serious threat to parts supply began to circulate in May or June of 2022 amongst those involved with classic Rolls-Royce and Bentley models. Bentley, it was said, planned to restrict the sale of all Bentley original equipment spares (branded Crewe Genuine Parts) to aftermarket re-sellers – the specialists many of us go to for parts supply – particularly those for classic models. On the face of it, a desire to control worldwide distribution of Bentley

OEM product across worldwide markets offers some justification.

Firstly, the model of controlling all parts supply through franchised dealers only is a common one in the motor industry and applies at Porsche, for instance, who have been involved in overseeing major decisions at Bentley. Secondly, car makers do this because it allows them to maintain a supply of parts at whatever is their chosen price in overseas markets, rather than leaving franchised dealers to compete with independents who have imported the same parts bought more cheaply in another country.

Later in 2022, it became apparent that this was more than a rumour, and these plans caused some alarm amongst those in the know. Bentley, it seemed, had assumed the supply of heritage parts (roughly speaking, those for cars designed or built before the VW takeover in 1998) could be continued by franchised Bentley dealers with no drop-off in service for the customer. This seems reasonable at face value but in practice has significant problems. Almost all franchised Bentley dealers have no stockholding of heritage parts at all, and very few have staff trained in finding, fitting or even identifying the correct part for models that they never normally see, and may well never have worked on. After all, the large majority of Bentley dealerships took on the franchise after the introduction of the VAG-platform Continental GT. This meant that ordering something as basic as a set of Crewe Genuine branded brake pads for a Silver Shadow, which can currently be supplied ‘off the shelf’ from several aftermarket sources in 24 hours, would take a week or more to arrive – assuming the correct part was identified by a parts technician familiar with the model.

RR&BD understands that a wide range of people in the industry made their concerns plain to Bentley, and this, when added to the fact that most franchise dealers weren’t thrilled to take on the job of supplying parts for heritage vehicles, led to a change of heart – albeit just a few days before the policy was about to be instated.

‘Despite coming very late to the party, Bentley have made the right decision,’ says John Tupper of IntroCar. ‘They’ve recognised the role of independents like us, who are prepared to act as the specialist outlets of Crewe Genuine parts for heritage RollsRoyce and Bentley and seen that the plans would have been disastrous to service for owners of heritage cars. They’ve listened to complaints, and we should celebrate that understanding.’