December
20th, 2001 Fit for a Queen… Bentley Motors today
issued the first official photographs of the Bentley State Limousine.
While the car will be the first
State Bentley, the tradition of Crewe-designed and built State
Limousines dates back over half a century to July 6, 1950 when a new
Rolls-Royce Phantom IV was delivered to Princess Elizabeth and the Duke
of Edinburgh. Since then a further four Rolls-Royce limousines have been
presented - two Phantom Vs and two Phantom VI's - the most recent in
1987. The new Bentley State Limousine
differs fundamentally from those previously supplied by Crewe in being a
unique car, rather than a production car modified for State purposes. It
also bears no relation in either appearance or physical proportion to
any other Bentley product, and has been designed with continual
reference to and input from both The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and
of course, the Head Chauffeur. Major partners with Bentley in the
consortium included Mayflower Vehicle Systems (bodywork), LEONI Wiring
Systems (Electrics), TWR Group (trim packaging), Intier Automotive (trim
engineering), Radshape (brightware), Ricardo (powertrain) and MSX
International (validation).
The idea that The Queen should be
offered a new State Limousine for her Golden Jubilee came from within
Bentley Motors and harks back to her Silver Jubilee in 1977. At that time, the UK Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), on
behalf of the entire membership of the society, presented The Queen with
the Phantom VI, which remains her first choice of transport on State
occasions to this day and has covered over 125,000 miles in the interim.
The Royal fleet also retains the later (1987) Phantom VI and the two
Phantom Vs, dating from 1960 and 1961. Work on the project began in
February 2000 with Bentley design director Dirk van Braeckel working
with exterior stylist Crispin Marshfield to a brief that required the
car to appear both timeless and contemporary. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh
were formally presented with the design in May 2000, approving it with
requests for only minimal changes. Since then work has continued
non-stop at Crewe and among the other suppliers in the consortium to
create, develop and validate this unique vehicle in time for the Golden
Jubilee. The new Bentley State Limousine will
be presented to The Queen in May 2002 and will perform its first
official engagement in June 2002.
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Conceived
by a Bentley-led consortium of British Motor Industry manufacturers and
suppliers, the all new car will be presented as a gift to The Queen next
year to celebrate her Golden Jubilee. 
Bentley
Motors has been entirely responsible for the design, styling, chassis
and commissioning of the car and is currently assembling the limousine
in a dedicated area of its Personal Commissioning department. It has
also overseen the project from start to finish. 