To the Home of Bentley The venerable Pyms Lane factory once produced the magnificent Rolls Royce Merlin aero engines that many say won the war for Britain when fitted to such illustrious aircraft as the Lancaster bomber and Supermarine Spitfire. Today’s manufacturing process is whisper quiet by comparison. Conveyors silently transport the chassis above our heads where teams wait to perform their allotted tasks. Axles, transmissions, electrics and the coveted all-leather and walnut interiors are delicately installed without any sense of urgency. Even though the Crewe factory is now producing more Bentleys than ever before - as many as 10,000 in a year - there is no rush. Across from the ‘line’ is the diligent ‘sewing circle’ where craftsmen and women sit at their benches hand-stitching the soft leather to the rims of steering wheels.
“Depending on the degree of customization, it can take up to 16 hours to stitch a single wheel,” we’re told by David, a craftsman who considers himself a mere pup, with just a decade of service.
Customisation is a hallmark of the Bentley ownership experience, evidenced by the range of vivid colours rolling along the production line. Lime green, fire engine red, and submarine yellow adorn the customised line-up, while most customers, I’m told, are content to choose from the generous palette of more than 100 factory-favoured tints. Interiors too can be customised with your own shade of leather, or if leather is not your thing, customers can request Oxford cloth. While walnut is far and away the most favoured timber for the interior, elm, oak, maple and even eucalyptus are on hand. The top-of-range Mulsanne uses solid timber, computer cut to perfection on massive machines, then hand-finished.
“We’ve had some curious requests,” Robin Peel, Head of Marketing and Communications and our guide tells me, “including one lady who was so taken by the colour of a favourite kitchen appliance, she brought the whole item into us so we could copy the colour. It’s not unusual to be shown samples of nail polish, for example.”
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LUXURY LIVING