Choice, that's what we all want these days. A young chap in whizzy glasses running a focus group decided that a few years ago, and choice is certainly what Bentley provided with the Arnage. You could have one with a German engine designed in the 1990s, or an English engine designed in the 1950s. And of course, the earlier cars came with the later engine, and vice-versa. Confused? You should be - but not as confused as Volkswagen, who thought they'd bought Rolls-Royce, only to discover that BMW had - or important bits of it anyway - leaving the Wolfsburg firm building Bentleys with engines built by a rival manufacturer. What a sorry mess. How on earth did we get here? Well…
As you're reading there's a very good chance you know this story all too well, but for those new to all this, here's the potted version. Rolls-Royce Motors owners Vickers decided to sell in 1998, and the leading bidder was German automotive giant, BMW. However, at the eleventh hour BMW's £340m bid was trounced by VW's, whose clever money men just transposed the first two digits and offered £430m instead. Crafty. But not quite crafty enough, because although the deal included the historic Crewe factory, the famous Spirit of Ecstasy mascot and the instantly recognisable radiator grille shape, VW's lawyers missed the fact the Rolls-Royce brand name and logo were still under the control of the aero engine manufacturer, which promptly licensed them to BMW for a paltry (everything's relative) £40m. Eventually the two German
