2011 Bentley Continental Gtc Speed Convertible 2-door 6.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Volkswagen posts quarterly profit despite drop in sales

Volkswagen returned to profit in the third quarter as surging Chinese demand for luxury cars helped offset a 1.1% drop in vehicle deliveries due to the pandemic, sending its shares as much as 3% higher on Thursday. The German automaker's return to the black comes amid spiking coronavirus cases in Europe that led governments in France and Germany to order their countries back into strict national lockdowns on Wednesday. "The coronavirus remains a central problem," Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter said in a conference call with reporters. "This situation now is anything but relaxed." But Witter said the group expected the economic recovery to continue and did "not anticipate any nationwide lockdowns in larger markets." Witter said the takeover of U.S. truck maker Navistar International by Volkswagen's trucking unit Traton was an important acquisition, but the "current economic climate will not make this easy." Volkswagen reiterated it expects to post a profit for the full year, saying its business "recovered noticeably" in the third quarter as sales in China of premium vehicles, including Audi and Porsche sports cars, rose 3%. The quarterly performance was also aided by a series of cost-cutting measures launched earlier this year. Volkswagen said its net liquidity rose to 24.8 billion euros from 18.7 billion at the end of the second quarter. Excluding one-time items, third-quarter operating profit was 3.2 billion euros ($3.8 billion), down from 4.8 billion euros a year earlier, but up from a second quarter loss of 1.7 billion. In a note to clients, Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois described the results as a "solid performance with strong cash, but relatively muted in the context of the (auto) sector recovery." Last week, German rival Daimler reported a record 24% jump in Chinese demand for its Mercedes-Benz cars, boosting its margins in the third quarter. Italian-American Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot manufacturer PSA Group both also posted solid results this week. Witter said Volkswagen could not say for sure whether it would meet EU CO2 emissions targets this year, adding "it will be a tough race." At 1030 GMT, Volkswagen shares were up 2.9% at 129.20 euros. Related Video: Earnings/Financials Audi Bentley Bugatti Lamborghini Porsche Volkswagen

For a pot of gold, you could have this Bentley Mulliner Bacalar

You’re looking at the winning entry in an online competition Bentley held recently for colleagues and their families to design their own Mulliner Bacalar, a two-seat roadster of which only 12 will be built. No, there are no plans to build this one, and the rainbow motif on the livery is a nod to the symbol of hope during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, itÂ’s fun to imagine the head-turning you could do driving it. WeÂ’re told only that the winning design comes from someone named Eleanor, and Bentley adds the disclaimer that “anyone is able to imagine their dream specification from BentleyÂ’s unrivaled spectrum of interior and exterior colours,” so technically, we guess itÂ’s possible that one of the customers whoÂ’ve signed up for one could order this for production. There are also lots of other ways to customize the topless car, inside and out. The colors in the rainbow include Dragon Red II, which features on the launch of the Continental GT V8 back in 2012, and the Orange Flame used to introduce the Bentayga Speed more recently. Bentley used Yellow Flame to launch the Bacalar.  Bentley also held a contest for interior design but hasn't yet shared that winning entry.  The competition was judged by design boss Stefan Sielaff, who previously told Autoblog about how the Bacalar coachbuilding project grew out of requests from well-heeled customers for an ultra-exclusive, customizable product and arrived in just nine months. Inspired by the EXP 100 GT electric concept, the Bacalar uses a 650-horsepower 6.0-liter W12 engine. All 12 are already spoken for at a reported starting price of a cool $2 million. Related Video:    

2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible

Loses its Head, Keeps its Bespoke Cool
This is the 10th anniversary of the Bentley Continental GT, the 5,500-pound shim that pried open the market for bespoke luxury at $150K. We're into the second generation of the supercoupe that is still - and we think unfairly - derided as a grossly exaggerated Volkswagen, which to us is like saying the Hulk is just Bruce Banner in a tizzy. There are credible grounds for both statements, but in neither case do they accurately convey the chasm between the alpha and the omega.
Nevertheless, checking off the list of updated models brings us to the Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible, the moderately augmented version of the non-Speed GTC. Back to the notion of unfairness, it's probably just that to say the GT Speed Convertible is only "moderately" changed. It did, after all, take Bentley three years to engineer the changes that separate your 'basic' Bentley from the Speed variant, and although they might be imperceptible, they are numerous.