A price tag of $231.300: the advertisement showed the Maspalomas dunes being cut by scissors, from which emerged the beige upholstery of one of the world's finest cars. It's one of Gran Canaria's least exploited resources for two reasons: a lack of cultural awareness and the intellectual capacity of those involved in tourism promotion. In Tenerife, Seat has a budget car model called the Arona, which is actually named after a region in Italy. What would have happened to Tenerife if a luxury brand had named one of its cars Teide or Las Chafiras? In Gran Canaria, the ultra-luxury vehicle manufacturer Bentley has a model that pays homage to the ruggedness of the Canary Islands: the Roque Bentayga . Do you know where they filmed the advertisements pretending to be Tejeda due to a lack of support for the British firm? In Asturias: the local businessmen in Las Palmas thought that talking to Bentley would incur costs, when promoting the island was completely free. Bentayga by chance, but when the firm found an iconic rock with that name, everything was done around the hardness of Tejeda and the softness of Maspalomas.
What advertising impact does the vehicle have for the island and is it not used in favor of luxury tourism in the south of Gran Canaria? The Bentayga remains Bentley's best-selling model, with 44% of total sales. Bentley delivered 13.560 cars worldwide in 2023, generating revenue of €2.938 million and profit of €589 million. Sales were down 11% from 2022 and revenue was down 13%. But that's after four years of solid growth. There are 63 standard paint colors and plenty of opportunities to personalize the car, including through the Mulliner custom division. If requested, an automatic climate control not only keeps the car at a constant temperature but also detects if occupants are cold and warms them. Gran Canaria has what it has: total ignorance.
But Bentley continues her business and is not going to wait for the affection of an island that insults her with its indifference when in reality it is ignorance. She has launched the Bentayga Hybrid Alpine Green with architectural artist Stephen Wiltshire to hand-paint urban scenes, including buildings and people from 29 international locations. Cities represented in the so-called “Belonging Bentayga” include Paris, Rome, New York, London, Milan, Venice and Tokyo. Obviously due to the unprepared people of Las Palmas, the island of Gran Canaria is absent. They are not even able to do it for free.
Art cars are an emerging genre. BMW created an entire line of art cars from such famous artists as César Manrique, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella and Roy Lichtenstein, starting with a 3.0 CSL by American sculptor Alexander Calder in 1975. Warhol made an M1 supercar in 1979 and Lichtenstein a 320i Turbo in 1977. There's even an art car museum in Houston. According to the museum's manifesto, art cars have "an earthy, artful or exotic appearance, which the new computer-designed factory models lack."
Bentley may be known as an exclusive brand, but as it moves towards full electrification, it is also striving to be more diverse and inclusive as part of a sustainability initiative called Beyond100. After all, the company's workforce includes people of 52 nationalities who make the cars by hand and sell them in 67 countries. The “Belonging Bentayga” is the first car hand-painted by an outside artist at Bentley's headquarters in Crewe, England, but it is not the company's first art car. Wayne Bruce, director of communications and diversity and inclusion, says the company created a rainbow-wrapped Continental GT convertible in 2019 in response to an LGBTQ initiative among its ranks of 4.000 employees called Be Proud.
Bentley's second art car was the 2021 “Unifying Spur,” which was designed in-house by Rich Morris, inspired by the Beatles' colorfully painted 1 S1956. Morris' unique Flying Spur features the theme "love is love" and the nine colors of the "Progress" flag. Wiltshire, the creator of Bentley's latest art car, was born in London to West Indian parents and was initially diagnosed with autism because he did not speak at age 3. But he now he is speaking. "I have made many trips throughout my career and what stands out most to me are the buildings, their architecture and the people," he said in a statement. "I think Bentley and 'Belonging Bentayga' relate in the same way, bringing people together, creating a journey, creating memories."
The Wiltshire car came about because “we needed a vehicle for our latest 'Belonging' campaign. “We reached out to members of our peer network and asked them about artists who inspired them, and from there came a list of 20,” Bruce says. Wiltshire, who specializes in painting cityscapes from memory, did the final editing. The original Wiltshire Bentley Bentayga went to Miami last year for Art Basel. Bentley built a second Bentley Hybrid using Wiltshire's designs, and that car will be on display at the New York International Auto Show's Manhattan Exotic Car booth on the North Concourse, starting Friday. In the meantime, he was available for press tours. The Wiltshire car started out as a standard Bentley Azure Hybrid, priced at $231.300. With $38.000 in options, the test car cost $273.095. The artistic wrapping, well, it's priceless. The Azure is near the top of the equipment lines, with only extended-wheelbase versions above it.
At the heart of the Bentayga Hybrid is a 6-horsepower three-liter V335 mated to a 134-horsepower electric motor and an 18-kilowatt-hour battery. Combined, 456 horsepower and 514 pound-feet of torque are available, and the car goes from zero to 60 in 5,1 seconds. The Bentayga Hybrid achieves 20 miles per gallon overall with the gasoline engine alone and 47 miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) with electric power on. It can travel 23 miles on battery power alone.
The Bentayga Azure doesn't feel particularly aggressive under acceleration. Her forte is long-distance cruising, as evidenced by a round trip to Western Massachusetts. She is very quiet, does not make noises, has comfortable leather seats and does not skimp on passengers in the rear seats. On the options list are rear buckets with a massage function and 40% recline. They get excellent legroom, personal screens, a folding armrest with cupholders, and climate controls. For even more rear luxury, there's the extended-wheelbase version (which adds 7,1 inches). With the second row folded, there is 62,6 cubic feet of cargo area.
Bentley's plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) have proven especially popular in the British domestic market. The Flying Spur is also available as a PHEV, and the GT model will get one later this year. Bentley's first all-electric car will be launched in 2026. The company now has four product lines, but will have five when it goes all-electric in the early 2030s. This is an adjustment from previous plans to go all-electric by the end. of the decade. Bentley now says it will keep PHEVs on the market for a couple more years.
