Bentley’s sales and marketing chief Kevin Rose says he “loves the idea” of the British manufacturer going back to its roots by offering a bespoke coach-building service for customers who want a car built to their own design.
Such a move would echo the company’s formative days in the 1920s, when founder WO Bentley created his three-litre rolling chassis which was then given to customers’ coachbuilders to have their own bodywork fitted.
Rose believes there is potential for Bentley to create a modern-day parallel using the technical underpinnings of existing cars in the model range and adding customers’ specific bodywork designs on top.
“History repeats itself,” he said. “If you go back to Bentley’s early days, we built chassis which customers then took and said “I want this bodywork on top”. It was haute couture for cars and I love that idea.”
He added that this strategy could build on the concept of personalisation, which is becoming increasingly popular within car firms: “Lots of companies do ultra-limited editions, but this could take it further.”
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