Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs, and a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group since 1998.
Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley in 1919 in Cricklewood, North London, and became widely known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930.
Prominent models extend from the historic sports-racing Bentley 4½ Litre and Bentley Speed Six; the more recent Bentley R Type Continental, Bentley Turbo R, and Bentley Arnage; to its current model line, including the Flying Spur, Continental GT, Bentayga and the Mulsanne—which are marketed worldwide, with China as its largest market as of November 2012.
Today most Bentley models are assembled at the company's Crewe factory, with a small number assembled at Volkswagen's Dresden factory, Germany, and with bodies for the Continental manufactured in Zwickau and for the Bentayga manufactured at the Volkswagen Bratislava Plant.
The joining and eventual separation of Bentley and Rolls-Royce followed a series of mergers and acquisitions, beginning with the 1931 purchase by Rolls-Royce of Bentley, then in receivership. In 1971, Rolls-Royce itself was forced into receivership and the UK government nationalised the company—splitting into two companies the aerospace division (Rolls-Royce Plc) and automotive (Rolls-Royce Motors Limited) divisions—the latter retaining the Bentley subdivision. Rolls-Royce Motors was subsequently sold to engineering conglomerate, Vickers and in 1998, Vickers sold Rolls-Royce to Volkswagen AG.
Intellectual property rights to both the name Rolls-Royce as well as the company's logo had been retained not by Rolls-Royce Motors, but by aerospace company Rolls-Royce Plc, which had continued to license both to the automotive division. Thus the sale of "Rolls-Royce" to VW included the Bentley name and logos, vehicle designs, model nameplates, production, and administrative facilities, the Spirit of Ecstasy and Rolls-Royce grille shape trademarks (subsequently sold to BMW by VW)—but not the rights to the Rolls-Royce name or logo. The aerospace company, Rolls-Royce Plc, ultimately sold both to BMW AG.
宾利汽车有限公司是一家英国豪华汽车和 SUV 制造商和营销商，自 1998 年以来一直是大众汽车集团的子公司。
该公司总部位于英格兰克鲁，1919 年由 W. O. Bentley 在伦敦北部的克里克伍德创立，当时名为 Bentley Motors Limited，并因在 1924、1927、1928、1929 和 1930 年赢得勒芒 24 小时耐力赛而广为人知。
著名的车型包括历史悠久的运动型宾利 4½ 升和宾利 Speed 6；最近的宾利 R Type Continental、Bentley Turbo R 和 Bentley Arnage；其目前的车型系列，包括飞驰、欧陆 GT、Bentayga 和慕尚——这些产品在全球销售，截至 2012 年 11 月，中国是其最大的市场。
今天，大多数宾利车型在该公司的克鲁工厂组装，少数在德国德累斯顿大众工厂组装，在茨维考制造的 Continental 和大众汽车布拉迪斯拉发工厂制造的 Bentayga 车身。
Bentley 和 Rolls-Royce 的加入和最终分离是在一系列合并和收购之后发生的，从 1931 年 Rolls-Royce 收购 Bentley 开始，然后是破产管理。 1971 年，Rolls-Royce 本身被迫接管，英国政府将该公司国有化——拆分为两家公司，航空航天部门 (Rolls-Royce Plc) 和汽车部门 (Rolls-Royce Motors Limited)——后者保留宾利子公司。劳斯莱斯汽车随后被出售给工程集团 Vickers，1998 年，Vickers 将劳斯莱斯出售给大众汽车公司。
Rolls-Royce 名称和公司标志的知识产权并非由 Rolls-Royce Motors 保留，而是由航空航天公司 Rolls-Royce Plc 保留，该公司继续向汽车部门授予许可。因此，向大众出售“劳斯莱斯”包括宾利名称和标志、车辆设计、车型铭牌、生产和管理设施、狂喜精神和劳斯莱斯格栅形状商标（随后由大众出售给宝马）——但不是劳斯莱斯名称或标志的权利。航空航天公司 Rolls-Royce Plc 最终将两者都卖给了 BMW AG。
