2007 Bentley Continental Flying Spur - 1 Owner - Florida Vehicle on 2040-cars

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Audi CEO says brand's EVs are almost as profitable as its other cars

After, oh, a hundred years or so of building vehicles primarily powered by internal combustion engines, automakers around the world have been and still are pumping billions of dollars into the development of electric vehicle technology. Everything from platforms and batteries to motors and the software to control it all requires untold hours of development, and that takes time and money. Fortunately, it's not going to take long for that massive investment to start paying off, at least according to Audi CEO Markus Duesmann, who told Reuters in an interview that "The point where we earn as much money with electric cars as with combustion engine cars is now, or ... next year, 2023. They are very even now, the prices." As a brand, Audi contributed more than a quarter of overall profit for the massive Volkswagen Group, which has such powerhouse brands as Volkswagen and Porsche among others. Under the Audi umbrella are Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati, and it seems those high-end branches aren't going anywhere, at least for now. "These brands ... are very valuable very profitable brands, where we can even expand the synergy level in the future," Duesmann said in the interview. "There are no plans whatsoever to get rid of them." Despite the overall profitability of the brand, the ongoing global chip crisis is causing headaches. "We had a very strong first half in 2021. We do expect a much weaker second half," said Duesmann, who added, "We really have trouble." In fact, so serious is the trouble that the brand is forced into "a day-to-day troubleshooting process" to limit the chip-shortage damage. The good news for the automaker is that Audi has been able to boost its profit margin from 8% prior to the pandemic in 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2021. The bad news is that various chip shortages aren't expected to get a whole lot better over the rest of the year. Related video:

Bentley going back to Pikes Peak with a Continental GT

Bentley is headed to the clouds again, with Rhys Millen once more at the wheel. The English luxury brand took on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb last year with a Bentayga, Millen setting a production SUV record of 10:49.902. This year the duo want to claim the production car record over the 12.42-mile, 156-corner course with the new W12-powered Bentley Continental GT. The Pikes Peak organization doesn't list "Production Car" on its list of records. The closest we could find is a record run of 10:26.896 set by David Donner in a 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo S in the Time Attack 2 class. It appears a production car only needs the necessary safety gear like a roll cage and fire extinguisher to qualify for Time Attack 2. An Acura NSX won the category in 2016, just two seconds off Donner's time. Bentley is already working on its run and likely has simulations showing it can outdo Donner's time, but this will be a battle of lean vs. largesse. The Continental GT has all-wheel drive like the 911 Turbo S, and one more gear in its eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox compared to the Porsche. The Turbo S put out 560 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque, compared to Millen's ride getting 626 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. But the Bentley weighs roughly 1,400 pounds more than the Porsche, a healthy handicap to drag up to the 14,115-foot summit. Millen's the man to make the attempt, though, having raced up the mountain 25 times and taken five overall and seven class victories. The race goes down - or up, rather - on June 30.

2019 Bentley Continental GT First Drive Review | A grand tourer learns to dance

The Austrian Alps are a curious venue to show off that great hunter of the highways, the Bentley Continental GT. With deep green forests and soaring thrusts of exposed rock, the Alps are one of those few places where the natural world still reigns supreme. Humanity isn't going to change this place much. You can forget about six-lane freeways blasted through rock — the only way to get around is on narrow, twin lanes. True to its name, the coupe is perhaps the truest grand touring car on the market — comfort happily married to speed. I once logged a personal best time between New York City and Boston in a base GT, despite a pounding nighttime rain. Even that miserable East Coast route felt easy in the GT, which eats through highway miles in a peculiarly relentless fashion. It was born for distance. This is our first drive of the new, third-generation car, which won't be sold in North America for another year, at a starting price of $214,600. We've been told it is a changed machine — a GT still, but with more nimbleness. And now we're about to find out, having left behind quaint Austrian villages for a steep mountain road that switchbacks up toward the clouds. It's everything you hope and dream when you fantasize about the Alps. Before me is a straightaway interrupted by a quick left-right bend and an uphill switchback. A small twist of hands on the nicely weighted steering wheel and the Bentley jukes through the left-right fluidly; no need to brush the brakes until we're right up to the hairpin. Then a firm push on the stoppers and a full lock of the steering wheel and — listen to that! — tire noise from the 21-inch Pirellis as we get back on the gas early. The car stays remarkably flat despite the camber of the turn. I snap open my hands and flat-foot the accelerator. Another hairpin beckons just beyond. And so it goes, the Conti welcoming a full-throated uphill attack. We get to the top and begin the fall back down the mountain, which is even more illuminating. This is the model with the W12 — the only one available at launch, notorious for carrying too much weight in its nose. Take a previous generation on a tight downhill route and you wrestle the grille through the turns, giving up entry speed to mitigate inevitable front-end push. It was a point-and-shoot car, relying on good brakes and ample power to make up lost time through the turns. This new generation is a momentum machine. There is a newfound rhythm and flow. It is deft and it is nimble.