Bentley Logo

Have you ever seen the winged "B" badge of the Bentley and felt like flying? If yes, you are not the only one! People all around the world dream of owning a Bentley and why not, its stature is just too big not to be desired! Bentley Motors was established in England in January 1919. The founder was Walter Owen Bentley. Walter Owen was always fascinated by combustible engines and racing motorcycles, like most young boys are, and the Bentley was an outcome of this passion. Bentley Motors has a history full of turns and twists and quite an interesting one too! Lets skim through its pages. The manufacturing of the Bentley started with a 3-litre engine car which was very advanced for its times. It had four cylinders, single overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder and twin-spark ignition via two magnetos. But it did make some noise. It is said, that this noise once irritated a nurse who was attending to a dying patient. To everyone's surprise, a person present there had then said 'A happy sound to die to"! Such was the beginning of the Bentley! The Bentley was and is primarily known as a racing car. It has won many Le Mans trophies. The Le Mans is a 24-hour car endurance test held in France. It tests a car to it limits and those who can sustain the grill, command tremendous respect and awe in the automobile market. These races also provided a huge advertisement for the Bentley. The first Bentley,the 3-litre car, participated and came a very respectable 4th! From then on, there was no looking back and Bentley motors went on to make some of the finest cars ever known. Sometimes the manufacturing was so slow that the cars were made just before delivery and at times even the demonstration cars had to be sold. But their popularity never ceased to soar. In reality fewer people bought them due to their high prices but still everyone secretly thought of taking control of one of these. After a few years, it was announced that Bentley Motors would retire from racing as they were falling short of money. As well as this, all the rash race driving was giving the common man a very bad impression about the car. Some people were wary of buying the car, as they saw it as a symbol of rough driving. Somewhat in order to break this image, Bentley Motors manufactured a bewitching limousine passenger car. But by this time, the great depression had taken its toll on Bentley Motors, leaving it in financial doldrums. Hence it was decided to sell the firm. Thus Rolls Royce took over Bentley Motors in a very dramatic manner in 1931. At that time Bentley was the most formidable rival of Rolls Royce and the world saw this as a mega deal for Rolls Royce. Actually it was good news for Bentley (in one way at least), that their baby would at least be in some experienced hands. Thus the Bentley was actually with Bentley Motors only till 1931. The Volkswagen Group ,a German company, has been the owner of Bentley since 1998. The Bentleys are manufactured at the Crewe factory in England. The various current and popular models of this car are Arnage, Azure, Continental GT, Continental Flying Spur and Continental GTC. Luxury, elegance and comfort characterize all the Bentleys. Features like emergency fuel shut-off device, child safety door locks located on rear doors, engine immobilizer, front seatbelt height adjusters, fog lights, anti-theft protection, airbags with occupant sensors, computers keeping track of average speed, average fuel consumption, instantaneous fuel consumption and range for remaining fuel, keyless entry operated via key fob, tire pressure monitor, separate driver/front passenger climate controls, rear window defroster, heated washer system, bluetooth incorporated telephone system, electric foldable mirrors, ashtrays, full maps, remote controlled DVD, several speakers, headlight cleaners, leather seats, tinted glass ,a variety of interior lighting, etc. make the Bentley, a precious buy. The Azure also has a sunroof/moonroof and a removable/convertible top! The Bentley cars are immediately recognizable by the huge headlights they flaunt. But unlike their easy to spot features, they are very difficult and intricate to make! The Bentley is known as a highly reliable, sturdy and versatile car. Versatile, as it combines uncompromising luxury with enviable performance and reliability.

BMW Logo

Karl Friedrich Rapp is the name of the founder of BMW - one of the biggest world wide car manufacturing companies. BMW or Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works) was founded in 1916 as a successor to the Rapp Motor. Many people think that the logo of BMW comes from a spinning white propeller seen in the background of the blue sky. This may be so but in fact it is known that it also comes from the white and blue flag of Bavaria - the largest state of Germany. The capital city of the state is Munich and this is the place where even today we can find the BMW Headquarters. In 1916 with the foundation of the company a contract was secured for building V12 engines. These engines were about to be used in the creation of the automobiles from Austro-Daimler. These 12 cylinders V engines were at first used in aircraft which is the original plan of the BMW Company. Taking in account the time when the company was founded it was very likely for them to continue like that. However in 1919 after the World War I and the Treaty of Versailles the production of aircraft in Germany was prohibited and that quickly changed the politics of BMW. They began making brakes for the Rail transport. Soon after that BMW was able to design a motorcycle engine which was used for the creation of a motorcycle called with the model name Victoria. However Victoria was not built by BMW but by another company in Nuremberg. In 1924 BMW made a model of a motorcycle which was the first one they built - the R32. This was a turning point in the BMW history because it was a major achievement and for decades they used its technology - 500 cc engines cooled down by the air. Soon after that BMW added one new innovation - the driveshaft. It came to replace the chain for driving the rear wheel and became a mark of BMW for quite some time. In the German city Eisenach in 1927 began the production of Dixi - under license but only a year after that the Dixi Company was bought by BMW and they began mass production together with the model Austin Seven. When the World War I began BMW took its place in it because of the German army's motorized division. They used BMW R75 together with BMW R12. Because of the high need of engines BMW note that period as highly profitable. BMW was the main supplier and even today words like Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht brings many memories. Some of the best planes in that historical time used the BMW aero-engines and till the 1945 more than 30 000 planes with these engines were manufactured. BMW even made researches which enabled the company to make different jet engines for weapons. With the use of some men power consisting mainly by prisoners of the war BMW made many rocket-based weapons that were used in the war. Soon after the creation of the rocket-based weapons parts of the company were bombed. Soviets razed to the ground most of the company located in eastern Germany and the base factory in Munich was almost completely destroyed. After the war BMW was not able to quickly recover because of the need to rebuild the factory in Munich. After that when the restrictions from the Allies applied BMW was banned for three long years in which the company was forbidden from producing motorcycles until 1948 and cars until 1952. In 1951 the Bavarian company was able to regain all trademarks and it looked like it was finally able to recover and start again from what was left. In 1959 Herbert Quandt became the "wheel" which turned the BMW around because he denied a deal with Daimler-Benz and soon after that he increased his share in the BMW Company up to 50%. The name of Kurt Golda is stated as the man who incited Quandt to do this step and in the same year BMW began production of the BMW 700 which was based on the BMW 600. This small car used 2-cylinder, air-cooled engines and some years later it was renamed to "LS". Coupe and some cabriolet series were also manufactured. In 1963 BMW offered dividends to the shareholders of the company and in 1966 the factory in Munich reached its maximum capacity and BMW bought Hans Glas GmbH. This deal enabled BMW to use factories in Landshut and Dingolfing. With some new style provided by Bertone in 1972 BMW began production of 5 new series and in the years to follow the company made a big progress in the market. For 6 years under the leadership of Bernd Pischetsrieder BMW was able to expand its deal in the market by buying from British Aerospace the Rover Group. Rover Group's history starts in 1986 and till the moment when BMW owned it this company was able to achieve many things like for example the Rover 400 in 1990. However the Rover was sold to Phoenix Venture Holdings and Ford Motor Company because of some years of losses for BMW. Jokingly the press called the Rover "The English Patient" after the release of the namesake film. This however was not very hard on BMW and they were spared from taking the blame. It looks like that even the British press was not very enthusiastic about the Rover. BMW began production outside of Germany in 1994. New factories were made in South Carolina and even today the manufacturing of BMW X5 and BMW Z4 is made there. There are factories in some other places too like Oxford, Goodwood and others. After some time of assembly BMW began production in South Africa. Today BMW exports more than 50 000 3 Series vehicles yearly to Japan, USA, Africa, Australia and the Middle East.

Aston Martin Logo

Although founded in 1913, Aston Martin didn't originally start out with their prestigious name. Co-founded by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamdford, the company first started out with the name of Bamford and Martin LTD. The name change to Aston Martin occurred in 1914 when Lionel Martin had several successful runs in Buckinghamshire, England at the Aston Hill Climb. This became the inspiration to create the first Martin and register it under that name, only one year after the Aston Hill Climb. By 1920, the name Martin stuck and the company moved to Kensington. In 1922, Aston Martin began getting involved with overseas sales, trading and competition by entering two of their cars for competition in the French Grand Prix. Alas, in 1925 the company was hit with financial woes and had to close; but that didn't deter them for long. In 1926, investors stepped in to help them out and Martin now became Martin Motors LTD. Because of their already known reputation for luxury and sports cars, their reputation led them to compete in 1928 in the 24-hour Le Mans' race. Aston Martin's fame and popularity continued to grow as they entered more and more races and competitions, winning many of them. In 1963, the Aston DB5 began production and became what many consider to be the most beautiful vehicle ever constructed. The fame and popularity didn't stop there either as the Aston DB5 model was chosen and featured in the classic "Goldfinger" film in the popular James Bond series. Despite Aston Martin's popularity, 1972 saw a change with the company when ownership changed and then Company Developments LTD took over. This was also the same year that Martin started their new V8s into production. Over the next couple of decades the change of ownership continued, but production was kept alive and prosperous. In fact, the popularity of these luxury and sporty cars led to the Aston Martin's vehicles being featured in two more James Bond films including Tomorrow Never Dies and Goldeneye. The year 1998 was also a trademark era for Martin as they were given an award that recognised their contribution not only to the industry itself, but also to the economy of the UK. This award is known as the Queen's Award for Export. They continued their popular appearances in James Bond movies with another Aston Marin in Die Another Day which featured Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. From 1913 when Aston Martin was first founded until present, they have made a name for themselves as well as popularity for such infamous movies as the James Bond series. They have won many races with their vehicles and have claimed a very prestigious reputation for quality, luxury and sporty cars. In fact, their popularity and public (and commercial) demand for these illustrious vehicles prompted the company to start providing deliveries to customers in 2011. Their sleek design, high performance and popularity have made Aston Martin one of the top selling and most desired vehicles not only in the UK, but internationally as well.

Alpina Logo

Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH is an automobile manufacturing company based in Buchloe, in the Ostallgäu district of Bavaria, Germany selling their own cars, based on BMW cars. Alpina works closely with BMW and their processes are integrated into BMW's production lines, thus Alpina is recognized by TÜV as an automobile manufacturer, in contrast to other performance specialists which are aftermarket tuners. For instance, the Alpina B7 is produced at the same assembly line in Dingolfing, Germany, along with BMW's own 7-Series. For the 2011 model year, the B7's twin-turbo 4.4-litre BMW V8 is assembled by hand at Alpina's facility in Buchloe, Germany, before being shipped to BMW for installation, and the assembled vehicle is then sent back to Alpina for finishing touches.