Bentley Crewe

Bentley Crewe serves as the headquarters, design and manufacturing centre of Bentley Motors Limited, located on the outskirts of Crewe, Cheshire, England.

History

In preparation for what seemed an inevitable world war, Rolls Royce and the British Government looked to build a shadow factory to ensure production of aircraft engines. Crewe with its excellent transport links through both road and rail, as well as being located in the northwest away from ariel bombing runs starting in mainland Europe and having extensive local un-developed farming lands, quickly appeared a logical choice. Construction started on the potato fields of Merrill's Farm in July 1938, with the first Rolls Royce Merlin produced five months later. At its peak in 1943 during World War 2, 10,000 people were employed at the factory.

Car production

With the war in Europe over, production of the new jet engines was concentrated at Derby. This meant a need to find a new facility to produce motor cars, which it was decided to move to Crewe.

In 1946, the plant produced its first motor car, the Bentley Mark VI. Based on the short lived Mk V, it was designed by Ivan Evernden as the first ever "standard" body car, using a pressed-steel body. The most successful Bentley ever manufactured, Crewe produced more than 5,000 Mk6's, almost as many Bentleys as were made in the entire 20-year pre-war period.

Producing the Derby designed Bentley R-Type until 1955, it was replaced by the Bentley S1, the first car wholly designed, developed and built at Crewe. It was also the last Bentley fitted with a six-cylinder engine, as its successor, the S2 used the Crewe designed and developed all-aluminium 6.25-litre V8, which has remained in production in various forms ever since.