Bentley's chairman and chief executive, Wolfgang Schreiber, has suggested that the luxury brand’s next car, the ‘Falcon’, may be built or assembled in Bratislava, Slovakia.
All current and previous Bentley models have been built at the company’s Crewe plant, where production has being going on for 94 years. The idea that the new vehicle – which will be a high end SUV – has shocked and angered many, not least of whom are the 4,000 UK workers who currently build Bentleys.
"It might not be assembled by Bentley people but this is a minor thing," said Schreiber.
For many people who own or who admire the Bentley brand, the idea of this famous British car being built in Slovakia makes little sense.
The power of ‘Made in Great Britain’
As many car brands that originated in the UK start selling more and more around the world – such as Range Rover, Rolls Royce and Jaguar – a certain question will arise more and more: how important is it for a famous British vehicle to be built in Britain?
For some buyers, seeing the ‘Made in Great Britain’ badge adds huge kudos to a name. It means the vehicle has been well-built, and it won’t have you regularly calling your provider of breakdown insurance cover. UK Made means well made. But with powerful marketing and the opening up of new markets in the Middle East and Asia, will anyone really care if a quintessentially British car is made outside the British Isles? After all, nobody seems to mind that BMWs are made in factories all around the world, not just in Germany.
On the other hand, would a car such as a Rolls Royce be quite so popular if it was built in, say, Taiwan?
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