Car Throttle

I'm almost done with the Los Angeles car spotting articles.  In these last two sections, we'll be looking at two dealers in Hollywood to give you a taste of the good life.  Going down Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood, in search of an In-N-Out Burger (which I can report is just as good as everyone says it is!), I saw this Rolls Royce Corniche convertible parked curbside.  Hmm... And a jet-black Bentley Turbo R behind it.  If there's a better name for a Bentley out there than Turbo R, I'm not aware of it.  I got out of the car and wandered up the sidewalk into the front lot of Charles Agapiou Ltd Bentley/Rolls Servicing and Sales.  A dealer and shop that specializes in

The global economy might just be recovering from financial turmoil, but Bentley doesn't look to be faring too badly. In fact, right now production has begun on the Arnage's successor (not replacement, says Bentley) that was introduced last year. The company had said a lot of interest was gotten on the Mulsanne, and it looks like they were right. Bentley had planned for a production run of about 200 units per year, and over 800 orders were received, putting the car's sold out date into 2012. This is an impressive feat by any measure, especially considering the Mulsanne is more of a Phantom competitor than the Arnage. To keep up with demand, Bentley announced that they will be increasing capacity in order to keep up with the

Bentley (and Rolls-Royce, which is now owned by BMW) are known the world over for their craftsmanship and hand-built attention to detail. The new Mulsanne, introduced at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance last August, is no different. At a U.S price of $285,000, there is a dizzying array of personalization options: 114 paint colors (or you can create your own), 21 carpet colors, nine wood trim types and 24 different interior leather colors. The Mulsanne takes 400 hours (or around 16 days) to build, 200 of which are for hand-built parts – and out of that 160 for the interior alone. The process works out to be 15% longer than the Arnage overall. Bentley gives us a glimpse into that process with a new video documenting the body of the

On the day of Jaguar's long awaited launch of the range-topping XJ, Bentley chose to release a teaser of the "New Grand Bentley." "The New Grand Bentley or "Bentley Grand", as it's been referred to, is the replacement for the Arnage. For right now, it doesn't have an official name (they won't be sticking with Grand). Bentley is planning a long drawn out teaser process just like Jaguar has done with the XJ. I'm not sure it really benefits the super-exclusive manufacturers like Bentley though. How come you might ask - well, don't you think buyers with that kind of money have already decided to buy one or not? I mean, I'm sure they're well informed and all. Seeing teasers won't build their anticipation much. At

Now this is a real scoop. All we've seen yet of the Arnage's replacement have been "Bentley Grand" teasers released directly from the company that don't offer us much. CAR Magazine has gotten some revealing images of the car caught inside Bentley's Crewe factory. What's more, they promise a second batch of pictures to be released on Monday. Spyshots of a car testing? Doesn't compare. This is really bringing to you what no one else has. There will be a definite visual change going from the current Bentley flagship to the new one. The classic Bentley twin headlight design remains, but is reworked. Previously both headlights were of similar size; this time the one closest to the grille clearly takes center stage. Sources at CAR say that the Arnage replacement also adds

A new Arnage is coming and Bentley wants to make sure you're ready and waiting for it. Called (but I'm sure just tentatively) the Bentley Grand, a new teaser of the range-topping car has been released. Obviously as it is a teaser not much is shown, and the picture is in very low light. I assume we'll slowly see more and more of the car as it's August Pebble Beach Councours de Elegance debut date draws near. From what I can tell from the picture though is that it will be staying pretty close to the tried and true, time tested Bentley style. Who expected anything revolutionary? The new Arnage will be significantly different but not ground-breaking for the brand in the way that the new XJ is

Next Bentley Arnage To Move Upscale; is that an oxymoron? Apparently not. Normally when you think of the ultimate, most expensive automobiles in the world, Bentley comes to mind. . Bentley represents some of the ultimate in motoring. Apparently, Volkswagen's management wants the brand be taken further up market to compete with BMW's Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz's Maybach.  Given that the Maybach experiment isn't going too well for Mercedes though, I'm not sure that is such a great target. Based in part on the Audi A8, the next-generation Arnage is set to grow bigger in every dimension.  Historically, Bentley has always been the sportier brand in comparison to Rolls-Royce. Free from that constraint, the brand can be taken wherever VW wants it to go. "Project Kimblerly", as it is codenamed, is set to be unveiled