Crewe – Bentley Motors has made progress towards becoming the world’s most sustainable luxury automotive manufacturer by holding a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Launch Quality Center and Engineering Technical Center. The new facility, located at Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe, England, is essential to the brand’s preparations for future Battery-Powered Electric Vehicle (BEV) production and will set a new benchmark in next-generation, digital, flexible, and high-value manufacturing operations.
The new buildings will include a replica BEV assembly line, making it a hub for future model development. It will feature a software integration center, prototype workshop, metrology testing, and a dedicated area focused on future materials development. These structures represent a first step in preparation for the introduction of Bentley’s first BEV in 2026. The Center will cost £35 million to construct and is part of a £2.5 billion, ten-year investment program in future products and the Pyms Lane factory in Crewe, where all Bentley models are handcrafted.
Transforming Crewe into a “Dream Factory” is crucial to Bentley’s industry-leading Beyond100 strategy, which aims to reinvent its entire product range to support an electrified future while achieving carbon-neutral status by 2030. This digital, zero environmental impact, flexible, and high-value manufacturing facility will introduce a “go-to-zero” approach to the environmental impacts of manufacturing and lead the luxury car industry in next-generation digital applications.
The new Launch Quality Center will take up two floors, each covering 4,000 square meters. The in-house Metrology team will be responsible for measuring every part of a Bentley to the highest standards of precision. At the same time, the second floor will be home to virtually a complete production proving ground, comprising a laboratory for future materials testing and a mini assembly line to test future BEV assembly.
The Engineering Technical Center will also be located across two floors, covering 13,000 square meters. The center will house a prototype workshop for models of the future, materials development, and a software integration center. Key to the facility’s harmonious integration is a structured, comprehensive application of skills in training, testing, and launch preparation for all software and electrical, digital high-voltage systems.
The Launch Quality Center and Engineering Technical Center will be home to approximately 300 Bentley colleagues and are planned for completion by the end of 2023. All of these departments will be relocated from their current homes in the A1 building, the oldest existing building at the Pyms Lane site, and will be transformed into BEV assembly in time for production to commence in 2026.
Peter Bosch, Member of the Board for Manufacturing, emphasized the significance of this development in achieving an electrified, carbon-neutral future for Bentley. He said that “the automotive industry is in the middle of a digital revolution, with cars becoming true digital devices, and this presents a significant opportunity for Bentley as we aim for a benchmark position in next-generation, high-value manufacturing that supports our evolving Dream Factory and re-emphasizes our commitment to both our Beyond100 strategy and our long-term future at the site.”
