Bentley has officially entered the SUV game with the 2017 Bentayga, and though the vehicle hasn't been fully revealed yet, we've learned a few interesting details about the brand's first off-road-capable vehicle.
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3- The number of wheel sizes available on the Bentayga (20, 21, and 22 inches)
5- The amount, in millions of dollars, spent on tooling for the Bentayga's headlights
7- The number of operations required to stamp the Bentayga single-piece body side
8- The number of cars owned by the average Bentley owner
12- The number of hides, from southern German bulls, required to trim a Bentayga interior
19- The number of variables controlled by Bentley's drive mode selector
34- The percentage of Bentley owners who already own an SUV
35- The predicted average age, in years, of a Bentayga owner in China
48- The voltage required for the Bentayga's anti-roll system
50- The predicted average age, in years, of a Bentagya owner everywhere but China
90- The number of ECUs in the Bentayga
126- The total number of Bentaygas no one can buy, including hand-built prototypes (12), VFF off-tool samples (48), production validation series (36), and pre-launch "O-series" models (30)
150- The time, in hours, required to assemble a Bentayga (a Volkswagen Golf takes 25)
270- The number of torque tightenings required while building the Bentayga's W-12 Engine
372- The claimed range, in miles, of the W-12 Bentayga
400- The number of new jobs created at Bentley's Crewe, U.K., plant because of Bentayga production
786- The amount, in hundreds of millions of dollars, spent on the design, engineering, development, and manufacture to take Bentayga from concept to showroom
1,000- The number of engineers who worked on the Bentayga program
3,500- The number of Bentayga parts Bentley buys from outside suppliers
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by cars. My father was a mechanic, and some of my earliest memories are of handing him wrenches as he worked to turn a succession of down-at-heel secondhand cars into reliable family transportation. Later, when I was about 12, I’d be allowed to back the Valiant station wagon out onto the street and drive it around to the front of the house to wash it. We had the cleanest Valiant in the world.
I got my driver’s license exactly three months after my 16th birthday in a Series II Land Rover, ex-Australian Army with no synchro on first or second and about a million miles on the clock. “Pass your test in that,” said Dad, “and you’ll be able to drive anything.” He was right. Nearly four decades later I’ve driven everything from a Bugatti Veyron to a Volvo 18-wheeler, on roads and tracks all over the world. Very few people get the opportunity to parlay their passion into a career. I’m one of those fortunate few.
I started editing my local car club magazine, partly because no-one else would do it, and partly because I’d sold my rally car to get the deposit for my first house, and wanted to stay involved in the sport. Then one day someone handed me a free local sports paper and said they might want car stuff in it. I rang the editor and to my surprise she said yes. There was no pay, but I did get press passes, which meant I got into the races for free. And meet real automotive journalists in the pressroom. And watch and learn.
It’s been a helluva ride ever since. I’ve written about everything from Formula 1 to Sprint Car racing; from new cars and trucks to wild street machines and multi-million dollar classics; from global industry trends to secondhand car dealers. I’ve done automotive TV shows and radio shows, and helped create automotive websites, iMags and mobile apps. I’ve been the editor-in-chief of leading automotive media brands in Australia, Great Britain, and the United States. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The longer I’m in this business the more astonished I am these fiendishly complicated devices we call automobiles get made at all, and how accomplished they have become at doing what they’re designed to do. I believe all new cars should be great, and I’m disappointed when they’re not. Over the years I’ve come to realize cars are the result of a complex interaction of people, politics and process, which is why they’re all different. And why they continue to fascinate me.Read More
