To celebrate its 20th anniversary in China, the Bentley brand held its first ice and snow test drive in the Chinese market to kick off its annual anniversary celebrations. In 2021, the Bentley brand achieved outstanding performance in China, with annual sales reaching a year-on-year increase of 40%.
01
Continental ICE GT Special Edition
Mulliner, Bentley's personalisation division, has created an Ice GT model based exclusively on the Continental GT V8, paying homage to Bentley's ice speed record in 2007 and 2011, highlighting its strong performance in snow and ice. The car is limited to one unit worldwide and is only available to Chinese customers.
The Bentley Ice GT model was custom-inspired by a Continental GT car that competed at the Ice Grand Prix in Austria in 2020, with the consistent body finish and kingfisher colour scheme in the interior and exterior details.
The Ice GT's body exterior features an Onyx and Blackline specification, complemented by a Styling Specification with Kingfisher Blue accents and 22-inch bright black paint wheels. The ice GT's exclusive custom pattern on the front side fenders further enhances the car's recognizability.
The Bentley brand incorporates a unique Mulliner interior color scheme for the Ice GT. The leather on the side of the seat is in a striking kingfisher blue color scheme, while the contrasting stitching of the same color is applied to the seat back, door panel decoration and steering wheel. The headrest is decorated with a custom pattern exclusive to Ice GT, which consists of the word "ICE GT" and an embroidered pattern of snow-capped mountains. The vehicle's pedals echo the carbon fiber interior panel with a bright design effect, and the ice GT's exclusive custom pattern can be seen.
In terms of power, the Ice GT is powered by a 4.0-liter V8 twin-turbo engine with a maximum output of 404 kW (550PS) and a peak torque of 770 Nm.
The Ice GT models feature a range of custom-built configurations that meet extremely stringent tolerance standards. The customer-friendly style kit includes a front spoiler, rear diffuser, rear spoiler and a side skirt underside beam adorned with the metal Bentley logo. Each part is made of carbon fiber with a high-gloss design effect, complemented by kingfisher blue accents.
Carbon fiber components, like the wooden veneers in the cockpit, are created using a "mirror inlay" process for a sophisticated sensory experience. The carbon fiber material adopts a 2x2 twill design that is interwoven in the same direction, presenting a harmonious and unified visual style, and the use of multi-layer stacking method not only realizes the lightweight design of the components, but also achieves excellent strength and durability. The kit ensures optimum aerodynamics for Continental GT models.
In addition to the Bentley brand's twin-wing 'B' logo, all polished exterior trims and heat dissipation grilles of the Blackline specification are designed in black. In addition, the dark design of the fender air outlet, exhaust tailpipes and lower front grille add a modern and luxurious touch to the vehicle.
02
Power on Ice
Bentley Motors, which has just celebrated its 103rd birthday, held an ice and snow test drive event in Chinese mainland for the first time, and the event was held in Changchun, Jilin Province.
Porsche oversperforming the snow in English name show Force, Bentley ice and snow test drive full name Bentley Power on Ice Driving Experience, overseas media generally referred to as Power on Ice, between the lines versailles Bentley's innate high-horsepower dominant gene.
Speaking of Bentley's high-performance genes, in fact, the 3Litre model created when the brand was first built was not a top product in Europe, so Bentley began to build a 6 Litre model in 1926, which can be seen from the name of the car, which is a 6.5L engine-driven high-horsepower model, which is also Bentley's first large-displacement 6-cylinder model in history, laying the first seed for the Bentley brand's century-old performance route.
What made the Bentley brand and bodybuilder Mulliner famous was a rainy night in March 1930 when "Bentley Kid" Woolf Barnato and his friend drove a Mulliner custom Bentley on muddy country roads in France. Also departing is a high-class train to Calais, France, Le Train Bleu.
The Barnato duo overcame the effects of bad weather on the way, crossed the English Channel smoothly, and arrived at barnato's private club on St. James Street the next afternoon, while the supposedly fastest high-end train at the time, Le Train Bleu, arrived at Calais, France, 4 minutes later, which was the world-famous Le Train Bleu race. The car that Barnato drives is the Speed Six, a high-performance version of the Bentley 6 Litre, specially made by Bentley Mulliner.
Speed Six is Bentley's immortal work of the 1930s, this long front, large back shape, like the king of today's GT sports car - Bentley Continental GT spiritual ancestor.
The Continental GT is what I firmly believe to be the most perfect automotive product since I was an undergraduate. Design a new car from scratch, if the body posture, power performance, comfortable space, luxury tonality of all the technology trees are pulled, the final product must be called Continental GT.
Another reason for the Euro-Continental GT is that the Continental GT is the purest GT sports car in the automotive industry, and it clearly defines all the professional qualities required for a true GT sports car: luxury character, 2-seater or 2+2-seater, coupe form, long-distance high-speed driving quality, a certain luggage space (otherwise it is not called travel), a sporty and comfortable chassis.
So what do the words Continental and GT mean? The timeline returns to the 15th and 16th centuries, when the European continent, represented by the Tuscan Renaissance, attracted the British to study, and the emerald green on the banks of the Arno River became a flashpoint for the continent's countries to move towards human rights and intelligent civilization. Aspiring Britons traveled to the European continent to rediscover the brilliance of humanity on the territory of the Frankish Empire, drawing on the art, etiquette, society and later science that emerged. This epic journey, known as Grand Tourer (Grand Turismo, Chinese "Grand Tour"), is the root of the name GT, and Europe is naturally the European continent.