CREWE MEMBER

One of the major challenges when it came to replacing such an icon as the Bentley Turbo R and its Rolls-Royce sibling, the Silver Spirit, was that of marque differentiation. Ever since Bentley had transformed its image via turbocharging in the 1980s, it had become far more than just a badge-engineering exercise – and the next generation had to reflect this.

In the end, the new Bentley Arnage and Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph of 1998 shared essentially the same bodyshells, with their radiator grilles and bonnet pressings being the only major bodywork differences. But under those bonnets were some real contrasts, despite both cars featuring BMW-supplied powerplants – a 5.4-litre V12 in the case of the Rolls-Royce, while the Bentley sported a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8.

The same year saw a change of ownership for Rolls-Royce Motors, with