Bentley's and Rolls-Royce direction

The Arnage is the same bodystyle as the Rolls Royce Silver Seraph with an M70 BMW 12-cylinder engine and a different grille... The Azure is the equivalent of the RR Corniche as well...

 

WRONG.

The OLD Arnage had an option of a V-12 on the Green Label only. Azure is no longer made, as we all know, any RR will be a Phantom or something like it.

The new Arnage T and Arnage R and RL are updated versions of the same body style, but that is where they end. They are vastly different cars and the fit and finish has not deminished since VW has become the Capt'n.

CGT is going after a market that the DB9 and the 600 class of MB are going for. They are going for the " I can afford a 120k car no problem, but, everyone seems to have this car, why not get something a little more special, ie Bentley or AM." And it is working. Bentley is pumping out cars due to dealers having orders from 1-2 years long, STILL.

They(vw) have imporved the company greatly since taking over and more and more products are going to be coming out. Taking Bentley out of the Uber-High line market (RR/Maybach) and putting them into the "One Day I want a Bentley Market".

RR is staying where they belong. People always had a mindset that Bentley'
s were less then RR and some were, but all in all, the price point between the compaines was similar. But, Bentely was always known as the drivers car, and RR was the car to be driven in. This is one aspect that RR wants to change with the Phantom. They want you to enjoy driving the car as much as Charles driving you the Yacht for a weekend get away. They are making the car driver friendly, and I will say, it is quite an impressive machince for being 19 feet long. It MOVES at command, and is very taught throught.

 

The RR is friggin Huge, It must be close in size to a Suburban, I saw one next to a Jeep Cherokee & the RR dwarfed the Jeep

The RR is a great car, if you are the Queen of England or have parades to attend to

 

Dude, I suggest you check your facts... The Green Label Arnage came with a twin turbo Cosworth 4.4 litre V8 borrowed from the E38 7-series BMW and was produced in 1999 only... I never said the Azure was still in production..

The Arnage and Silver Seraph both ride on the same platform as the previous generation BMW E38 7 series...

 

The early green label Arnage had the BMW V8 (the 4.4, with 2 turbos grafted to it) ... not the V12. Am I missing something?

And I do like the previous generation Bentleys (Continental T/R and Arnage), although the new Arnage DropHead seems amazing. Rolls is stunning, but I think they are aiming at a higher market than Bentley now.

FWIW, the Phantom dwarfs the Range Rover too. Love it.

 

Yes, he's wrong

http://www.rrab.com/barnag.htm

 

Second time I have done that. Always forget that damn Seraph is the V12-..But the reason why is the same oil filter is used on the Searph and the Arange GL only. My fault.
As seen here....

All the others back to the late 70's use the same filter, and they ended up going back to it.....So, that was the basis of my confussion and typing quickly not re-reading my post.
EDIT---Not only produced in 1999 as shown. That is the oil filter chart for the break down by vin. apologies on the WRONG.
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Don't you all think the new RR front end- that oversized radiator that is disproportionately large- looks like a caricature of itself- almost cartoon-like?
It seems to fit into today's culture alright, but to my eye, it's just too pimp.

 

I've seen a few RR Phantoms in China (one black, one white) and several in Tokyo. In white, it looks like an iceberg going down the street.

I don't see Bentley really going below the MB 600 price point, as that's where Audi is supposed to fit in to all of this at VW (let's not start on the phaeton in this thread).

I actually thing VW got this right by fitting these cars just above the MB price points. IMHO, MB screwed up when it started going after the sub $35k market. You know, the guy that forked over $120k plus for his S600 gets pretty pissed when the pizza delivery guy shows up in a $25k C230.

The secret to this market is to slowly move the MSRP, not double it (like Maybach did) and expect people to line up.

 

Agreed. It looks like a car cobbled up for a Batman movie, comically overstyled, yes, a caricature of itself.

 

What do you guys think of the new Bentley??
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BMW 7 series isn't selling, but for reasons that are obvious. 5 series also is selling poorly for similar but somewhat less egregious reasons.

 

Are MB and BMW selling lots of cars, yes. No question about it. But, they are selling less of the premium cars than they used to. Most of their sales have shifted to the more down market models (3 series which has always been BMW's bread and butter model and the C class spin offs).

Yes, they're selling lots of cars, but in the process, they are no longer becoming premium or aspirational cars. When most of the cars you sell are below $50k, you really are competing with Ford, GM, Toyota. All of a sudden, your market share really does look like crap.

I actually think that MB make a big mistake launching Maybach. You told your customers point blank that Mercedes was no longer the best luxury car. That's a real good way to piss people off, especially loyal long term S class buyers.

 

When the cheap money goes away (i.e. interest rates rise), you'll be able to figure out what the market really wants. But based on the article I recently posted in the other Bentley thread, we know its not Rolls Royce or Maybach right now.

Mercedes has serious quality issues that they need to work out, as does BMW. I think it is still going to get worse for them, before it gets better.

 

Styling faux pas and "I-drive" debacle.

I don't think BMW makes anything over $100K. Anybody?

 

only the 760's are over a hundred, and i don't see many around.

 

http://www.autonews.com/

Not sure on when the market is going to get upset, but my guess is that there may be a slow down in 6-12 months.

 

Wrong engine, it was the M73 V12 (and only in the RR), and yes the underpinnings were last gen 7 series. (Great platform btw) Both engines came from the 7 series, the bentley's (sans turbos) was the engine available in the 740 and the rolls was the engine availble in the 750.

Raj is correct. The 760 is well over 100k. Good car too if you can get over the looks. (I am trying)

 

Well, there you go!

Hard to pay that for an ugly duckling with an I-drive, I'd say.