Did You Know? Bentley was once Owned By Rolls-Royce & the battle between BMW & VW for its ownership!

Updated: Jul 5, 2020

Bentley Motors Limited & Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd are probably best known Britain’s luxury car producers. They are strikingly different yet strikingly similar at the same time which is a result of the tales of Legendary Britain's Luxury Automobile duo Bentley & Rolls-Royce followed a series of mergers & acquisitions, beginning with the November 1931 purchase by Rolls-Royce of Bentley, due to the the Great Depression receivership.

However from the acquisition of Bentley by Rolls-Royce, the future development of both car producers became intertwined with Bentley being dependant on the Rolls-Royce’s owner. This, however, has been shown to have no effect on the brand. Just like Rolls-Royce remains associated with pure luxury, Bentley remains associated with top sports cars and high performance for increased driving experience.

In 1971, Rolls-Royce too was forced into receivership & the UK government nationalized the company by splitting it into two companies the aerospace division (Rolls-Royce Plc) and automotive (Rolls-Royce Motors Limited) divisions but the latter retained the Bentley Motors Ltd subdivision. Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd was subsequently sold to engineering conglomerate, Vickers Plc in 1980 and in 1998, Vickers sold Rolls-Royce Motors Ltd to Volkswagen AG from where the twist in the tale started happening as BMW Group jumped in.

As Intellectual property rights to both the name Rolls-Royce as well as the company's logo had been retained by aerospace company, Rolls-Royce Plc, which had continued to license both to the automotive division. Thus the sale of "Rolls-Royce" to Volkswagen AG included the Bentley name and logos, vehicle designs, model nameplates, production, and administrative facilities, the Spirit of Ecstasy and Rolls-Royce grille shape trademarks but not the rights to the Rolls-Royce name or logo. The aerospace company, Rolls-Royce Plc, ultimately sold both to BMW AG.

In 1998, Vickers decided to sell Rolls-Royce Motors. The most likely buyer was BMW, which already supplied engines and other components for Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars, but BMW's final offer of £340 million was beaten by Volkswagen's £430 million.

It wasn't so simple as it looks here to read about it when we look into details it wasn't less then a battle because when in 1998, Vickers decided to sell Rolls-Royce Motors the favourite buyer was BMW, which already supplied engines & other components for Rolls-Royce & Bentley cars but BMW's bid offer of £340 million was beaten by Volkswagen's £430 million.

Then came the catch which brought twist in the tale as in the ownership documents of Rolls-Royce it was dictated that Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, the aero-engine maker, would retain few essential trademarks, including the Rolls-Royce name & logo if the automotive division was sold. Wherein Vickers plc had already sold the vehicle designs, nameplates, administrative headquarters, production facilities, Spirit of Ecstasy & Rolls-Royce grille shape trademarks to Volkswagen AG hence Rolls-Royce plc chose to license the Rolls-Royce name & logo to BMW AG for £40 million, because Rolls-Royce plc had joint business ventures with BMW.

BMW's contract to supply engines and components to Rolls-Royce Motors allowed BMW to cancel the contract with 12 months' notice. Volkswagen would be unable to re-engineer the Rolls-Royce & Bentley vehicles to use other engines within that time frame. With the Rolls-Royce brand identification marks split between the two companies and Volkswagen's engine supply in jeopardy, the two companies finally entered into negotiations.

Finally Volkswagen agreed to sell BMW the Spirit of Ecstasy & grille shape trademarks whereas BMW agreed to continue supplying engines & components until 2003. So Volkswagen continued to produce Rolls-Royce branded vehicles between 1998 & 2003 while BMW got time to build a new Rolls-Royce administrative headquarters & production plant on the Goodwood Estate near Chichester, West Sussex to produce the first ever Rolls-Royce car the Phantom at the new company in 2003. Since then it expanded its product line to include extended wheelbase, two-door coupé, and convertible versions of the Phantom sedan, as well as the smaller Ghost four-door sedan, Wraith two-door coupé, Dawn convertible, and the Cullinan SUV alongwith its Black Badge version.

Wherein Bentley Motors Ltd under complete supervision of Volkswagen AG produced their first ever iconic W12 engine with large size luxury Coupé the Continental GT at their Crewe plant. Since then it expanded its product line to include extended four door version of continental GT called the Flying Spur, the grand Limousine Mulsane, convertible version the Continental GTC, the Bentayga SUV, it's Hybrid version & the grand tourer Bacalar in 2020.