Bentley has continued its centenary festivities with a trio of connected events that celebrated the past, present and future of the brand, that took place in Lower Manhattan.
Five parades of customer-owned Bentleys from across the last 100 years made their way from starting points outside Manhattan to converge at Brookfield Place on the downtown waterfront on Saturday 19th October. Guests were then able to enjoy the Centenary Concours – a dedicated display of the very best models from the past, examples of every car in the current Bentley range and a look to the future in the shape of EXP 100 GT – Bentley’s concept car for 2035 and a showcase for the future of sustainable automotive luxury.
Leading the parades were a selection of the very latest new models from Bentley, including the all-new Flying Spur luxury sedan in its east coast debut, and the new Bentayga Hybrid – Bentley’s first plug-in hybrid, that starts a journey of electrification that will see every Bentley model offered with a hybrid variant by 2023 and a full battery electric Bentley by 2025.
In the evening, the celebrations moved to the Centenary Grand Ball, where President and CEO of Bentley Americas, Christophe Georges, welcomed 350 guests for an evening of fine food, music and libations that continued until the early hours in the true style of the Bentley Boys. Christophe comments:
“Bentley owners and enthusiasts of the brand have been marking our Centenary for the past year at locations around the world, and we wanted to continue our celebrations in The Americas by coming to New York – one of the most important and truly international cities in the world, and home to many Bentley owners. I was delighted to see so many loyal customers share their beautiful cars with us, and the sight of a hundred Bentleys parading into Manhattan was spectacular. My thanks go to everyone who joined us on this special occasion.”
A film showcasing the parades of Bentleys across the city has been released today, available on YouTube here and available for download at the Bentley Newsroom (www.bentleymedia.com).
The New York parades, Concours and Ball formed the third part of Bentley America’s centenary-themed events in 2019, following on from Monterey Car Week and Grand Prix of Sonoma. The fourth and final celebration takes place at the renowned Art Basel event in Miami in early December.