Bentley is displaying one of the most important cars in its history at its factory in Crewe until September.
The Bentley Embiricos was commissioned by a wealthy Greek customer as the first ever aerodynamically inspired Bentley GT in 1938. The car went on to directly influence the 1952 R-Type Continental, which, in turn inspired the current Continental GT.
In a piece of refreshing honesty, Ford UK’s Managing Director, Mark Ovenden, said, “I will admit that the Fusion could have been better in terms of style, but it had a 1 per cent market share, and most of our competitors would die for volumes like that. And it was phenomenally successful in Russia.” The funny thing about the Fusion is that everyone treated it as a failure, but it actually did sell well – albeit to the parents (or sometimes grandparents) of the people its deluded advertising was aimed at.
SsangYong is the rubber duck of the car industry – it has gone under on more than one occasion in recent years (and had it factory stormed by paramilitary police a few years ago), but it keeps bobbing back to the surface.
Now owned by Indian giant Mahindra, the Korean off-road specialist has launched a double-cab off-roader, which features sophisticated independent rear suspension and niceties like partially reclining rear seats.
Perhaps in the light of the Range Rover announcement, Mercedes has taken the opportunity to announce the new 4wd A Class, and also remind the world that it invented the 4×4 – back in 1907, apparently.
The Daimler Dernberg (Daimler was the original name of Mercedes) is said to be the world’s first commercially available 4×4 and had a 6.8 litre engine, producing 35 bhp. Mercedes also points out that the formidable Unimog has been in continuous production since 1947. The Unimog is short for Universalmotorgeraet, which translates as “Universal Motor Appliance” – the ultimate Swiss Army Knife on wheels (for those with budgets approaching six figures).
