Bentley, the Crewe based luxury car marque is famous for its opulent ride and sporty but uber luxurious cars. They have been the vehicles of choice for the extremely rich as well as the politically powerful. The company is celebrating its centenary and as part of the celebrations, they unveiled the EXP 100 GT concept.

This concept car is a pledge by Bentley to develop sustainable future vehicles which will remain true to their legacy and provide the most exquisite human experiences when driving or driven around in them. As a first step toward this sustainability, the concept car is full electric with zero emissions. It has autonomous drive capability and is controlled through artificial intelligence to provide a great ride experience.

The car has four motors generating 1491 N-m of torque. These motors push the car from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds and a top speed of 298 km/h. With a single charge, the car has a claimed range of 696 km. Bentley claims that these batteries can be charged to 80% in 15 minutes.

A major effort in luxury cars like the Bentley is the interiors and so many time the companies are targetted for using material for the interior which are harmful to nature. So Bentley has gone the whole hog and used only recyclable and environmentally friendly material inside. They have entered into several tie ups with British and European companies which produce materials naturally or through recycling. However, Bentley cannot lose sight of its clients and their exquisite tastes so they have entered into tie ups with companies like Gainsborough for cotton damask fabric for use in the car. The fabric has been dyed using techniques ensuring that there is no discharge of chemicals into the environment.

Bentley then went ahead and entered into and agreement with a premier embroidery house in London to embroider the various details in the cabin. This embroidery house has been providing embroidery to the royal family of UK as well as their armed forces for several centuries.

Bentley has shunned leather for the seats in favour of vegea. The leather like fabric is made from the byproducts of the wine industry and uses grape skins, seeds and stalks that remain after crushing grapes. They have entered into an arrangement with Vegea Company of Italy for the same.

Then came the carpets. Bentley has sourced woolen carpets from Grosvenor Wilton. The carpets are woven from British farmed wool which is produced in the natural manner. Grosvenor Wilton is in this business since 1790. Similarly the crystal used in the car is from Cumbria Crystal, a company that produces extremely high quality crystal manually blown and shaped by a set of extremely talented and trained men who have been using techniques first used in the Roman times.

For wood inserts Bentley went for 5,000 year old oak trees which had fallen into the silt of the flooded forest where they have been preserved ever since in the peat. These logs were infused with recycled copper to improve the improper wood and bring them to the specifications required by Bentley.

Even the exterior paint of the EXP 100 GT is produced from a process that uses rice husk ash – a bi-product from the rice industry. The Coldstream pigment featured on the Grand Tourer is synthetically manufactured and reduces rice husk landfill waste, due to the bi-product’s lack of biodegradability. The resulting paintwork shows a beautiful spectrum of autumn colours.

Advertisement