Bentley Makes Green Pledge

There are six cars on the Bentley stand - the complete Continental and Arnage ranges together for the first time, including the recently launched Brooklands.

And you'll probably know that these are big, hugely powerful, hugely capable cars, each with the luxury of a gentleman's club and the performance of a space shuttle. You may also have guessed that they are not, in this incarnation, about to win any economy prizes, or too many environmental awards.

In a nutshell, Bentley has never had a particularly impressive fleet average economy figure. Which was mildly embarrassing but not hugely significant five years ago when they were selling fewer than 1,000 cars a year, but it has become more of an issue now that they have, for the first time ever, built more than 10,000 in a year, and look set to grow output even further.

And while that is still a tiny volume in the mainstream manufacturing context, Bentley is if nothing else an ethical company, who announced today that they are committing to a major initiative to cut emissions dramatically by the year 2012. How dramatically? Well, today's six-car range has an average tailpipe CO2 rating in the order of 400 g/km, and a "well-to-wheel" average (including drilling, refining and distributing) of around 450 g/km, which some might think a bit excessive.

Announcing a new three-stage environmental strategy for Bentley, though, Chief Executive Franz-Josef Paefgen stated that by 2012, on a well-to-wheel basis, the entire Bentley range will be capable of delivering less than 120 g/km of CO2. It's a big promise, but Bentley is a company with engineering credentials second to none, and they are confident of delivering.

First they will attack efficiency, bringing average fleet emissions down by 15 percent by the 2012 target date; next, they expect a new powertrain already in development to deliver a massive 40 percent improvement in fuel economy; and finally, they will aggressively pursue renewable fuel options, introducing flex-fuel engines across the range by 2012, and introducing their first engines capable of running on wholly renewable fuels as early as next year.

That would make them the first manufacturer in their segment (and one of the first in the industry) to deliver renewable-fuel vehicles throughout their range; and when Bentley talk of renewable fuels they mean "second generation" bi-fuels that use biomass waste and don't compete with food crop requirements for their starter materials. They will also make their cars lighter, but you know they won't compromise what makes a Bentley a Bentley. That's the power of commitment.