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Ducati Diavel for Bentley is the first collaboration between the brands

Sister companies Ducati and Bentley have joined forces for the first time to create a limited-edition version of the Diavel motorcycle. Inspired by the Batur, which is also a limited-edition model, the bike stands out with an elegant design that incorporates several Bentley styling cues. Although this is the first time Bentley's winged logo appears on a Ducati, it's not the first car-themed Diavel to come out of the Italian brand's design studio; it collaborated with Lamborghini on a Sian FKP 37-inspired 1260 Diavel in November 2020. Drawing inspiration from the sold-out Batur, designers added mesh inserts and red accents to the side air intakes, edition-specific fairing made with carbon fiber, and forged wheels shaped like the ones Bentley put on its limited-edition coupe. Scarab Green paint from the Bentley palette completes the look. The rider sits on an Alcantara-upholstered seat with red accents that echoes the Batur's interior and faces a redesigned instrument cluster. Ducati notes that buyers will receive the bike in a personalized wood case along with a certificate of authenticity, a motorcycle cover, and a passenger seat. The two companies also collaborated on a range of accessories that includes a helmet and a limited-edition jacket. Fitting the Diavel with Bentley's 6.0-liter twin-turbocharged W12 engine seemingly wasn't an option, so power comes from a stock, 1.2-liter V4 rated at 168 horsepower and 93 pound-feet of torque. If neither figure sounds impressive, keep in mind the standard Diavel weighs 520 pounds. Put another way, its power-to-weight ratio approaches that of a Bugatti Chiron. It's the two-wheel equivalent of a supercar. Ducati will build 500 units of the Diavel for Bentley. If that's not rare enough, it will make 50 additional examples of a version named Diavel for Bentley Mulliner that's reserved for Bentley customers. They'll notably have a broader scope of customization options to choose from. Featured Gallery Ducati Diavel for Bentley View 29 Photos Design/Style Bentley Motorcycle Luxury Performance

Bentley installing 10,000 solar panels in HQ parking lot

Bentley has started construction on what it says will be the U.K.'s largest solar-powered car port at its factory headquarters in Crewe, England. When completed, the array will have a capacity of 2.7 megawatts, enough to cover 24 percent of the company's energy requirements on the site. Crews will install 10,000 solar panels in the employee car port in a project that's expected to take six months. They'll add to the 20,815-panel, 5mW rooftop solar power system that Bentley finished installing at the factory in 2013. The combined output will be enough to power the equivalent of 1,750 homes. The car port will cover 1,378 parking spaces and be installed and operated by British firm FlexiSolar, which is also designing and manufacturing the system. The new green energy system adds to plaudits in recent years for reducing its water usage at the Crewe HQ. Bentley has also been awarded the Carbon Trust Standards for carbon, water and waste. While Bentleys aren't exactly known for their fuel efficiency — the Mulsanne sedan gets a woeful 11 mpg in the city and 18 mpg on the highway — its vehicles no longer appear on the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's "meanest" list of gas-guzzlers, as they once did. It also just showed its forthcoming and long-promised Bentayga plug-in hybrid in Geneva, promising 31 miles of all-electric range and a turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 paired with an electric motor. The brand is also promising a full-electric model in the near future. "We continue to focus on new initiatives that reinforce our commitment to the environment, whether this is introducing alternative powertrain technologies in future models, or our award-winning work to reduce the environmental impact of our factory," Peter Bosch, Bentley's member of the Board for Manufacturing, said in a statement. Related Video:

Bentley planning new Le Mans prototype for LMP2 class

Word has it that Bentley is planning a new Le Mans prototype racer. Speaking with Bentley chief Wolfgang Durheimer, Autocar reports that a new LMP2 project is underway at Crewe. The program would be run in-house instead of outsourced to a partner racing team. But while the prototype would likely use the company's 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, the chassis by necessity would have to be outsourced: the three major sanctioning bodies recently got together to approve Dallara, Oreca, Riley-Multimatic, and Onroak exclusively to supply LMP2 chassis, so Bentley would have to base its design around one of theirs. The British automaker might have a number of reasons for restricting itself to the LMP2 class. Chief among them is likely the presence of both Porsche and Audi in the top-tier LMP1 category, and parent company Volkswagen's likely reluctance to send another one of its brands into the same fight. Another is budget: developing and fielding a competitive LMP1 program can be as costly as running an F1 team, whereas the prospect of sourcing and adapting an LMP2 chassis from an approved supplier would cost Bentley far less. But another factor not to be discounted is that Bentley may be choosing its battles carefully. Where the LMP1 prototypes are constricted largely to Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship of which it is part, there are several series that top out at LMP2 – most notable the IMSA SportsCar Championship where Bentley is tipped to focus first, but also in the European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. In fact [SPOILER ALERT] an LMP2 entry just won the 24 Hours of Daytona for the first time, beating out the Daytona Prototypes against which they compete. Those are bragging rights that Bentley could be keen to capture, and if it plays its cards right, it could sit out the LMP2 class at Le Mans and in the WEC altogether, rather than compete for second-tier victory behind its big brothers in LMP1. That would make this program radically different from the last time Bentley built a Le Mans prototype. In the early 2000s, Bentley fielded successive versions of the Speed 8 (pictured above) with a little help from Audi, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright in 2003. The company then shut down the program, only to return to racing with the Continental GT3, developed with longtime Ford rally partner M-Sport and offered to privateer teams.