Skip to main content

Testing Delays “Close to Catastrophic” for Bentley, Says CEO

The transition to Europe’s new WLTP fuel economy standard almost leads to disaster at Bentley, according to a new report.

Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark spoke with Automotive News Europe about the process. “We were not quick enough, unfortunately, to book capacity or prioritize our derivatives within some of the group processes to get them certified on time,” he said.

What did that mean for the company? It was “close to catastrophic,” Hallmark said.

The delay pushed back the introduction of the plug-in Bentayga. That push-back was so the automaker could get some of its volume models tested. Hallmark said that the testing delays hurt sales of the luxury SUV by 300-400 vehicles.

With every automaker in Europe scrambling to re-test their vehicles to ensure they complied with the new and more stringent WLTP testing, the number of test cells and time to use them was quickly eclipsed by demand. That led to a delay and stop-sale for several manufacturers, including Bentley parent Volkswagen, who had to pause production of several of its most popular models.

That’s part of why Bentley lost 137 million euros in the first nine months of this year. Not a happy introduction for Hallmark, who took over as company CEO just six months ago.

[source: Automotive News Europe]

The post Testing Delays “Close to Catastrophic” for Bentley, Says CEO appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2FGP8Fp
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as
Post a Comment
Read more

Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan

Filed under: Government/Legal , Green , Mitsubishi , Fuel Efficiency , Japan Mitsubishi says its shady fuel-economy test practices may have been used on all vehicles it sells and has sold in Japan. Continue reading Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan Mitsubishi admits it lied about MPG ratings for all vehicles in Japan originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 May 2016 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments from Autoblog Volkswagen http://ift.tt/21X3bHv
Post a Comment
Read more