Bentley Arnage

The Bentley Arnage is a luxury car produced by Bentley Motors in Crewe, England. The Arnage and its Rolls-Royce-branded sibling, the Silver Seraph, were introduced in the Spring of 1998 and were the first entirely new designs for the two marques since 1980.

Another break from the past was to be found under the bonnet, for decades home to the same 6.75L V8, a powerplant which could trace its roots back to the 1950s. The new Arnage was to be powered by a BMW V8, with Cosworth-engineered twin turbo installation, and the Seraph was to employ a BMW V12.

The Arnage is over 5m (200in) long, 1.9m (75in) wide, and has a curb weight of more than 2.5 metric tonnes. For a brief period it was the most powerful and fastest four-door saloon on the market.

Development

Following the uptick in sales for all of Rolls-Royce and resurgence of the Bentley marque, then-owner, Vickers, set about preparing a new model to replace the derivatives of the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit/Bentley Mulsanne which it had been selling since 1980. In a complete switch from tradition, these new cars would have bodies built at the Crewe factory with engines built elsewhere.