Spectacular showcase for Bentley at Autostadt

A modern and dramatic presentation of Bentley is a major attraction at Autostadt, an exciting, all-year-round, "automotive theatre" on a grand scale in Wolfsburg, Germany, the manufacturing base of Volkswagen AG.

Linked to Berlin and Hanover by high-speed trains, Autostadt is one of the most spectacular exhibitions in Europe, expected to attract some 1.5 million visitors a year. The site, which includes a new Ritz-Carlton five-star hotel, features a wide variety of excitingly innovative presentations. They include a vast, inter-active museum that chronicles a century of motoring, a state-of-the-art cinematic complex and a series of pavilions showcasing the marques of Europe's largest automotive group.

The Bentley Pavilion will introduce unprecedented numbers of people to the most thoroughbred of British sporting motor cars, allowing them to explore their lineage, their qualities and their legendary mystique - an important addition to the opportunities offered to visitors at the factory in Crewe.

World-class excellence in automotive technology and in highly refined, individual craftsmanship - the hallmark of motor cars built in Crewe - is reflected in the distinctive presence of the Bentley Pavilion at Autostadt.

Constructed of natural, green granite stone, roofed in glass, and set into the contours of a gently sloping hillside, it is excitingly designed inside to evoke the exhilaration of driving a thoroughbred Bentley and - in its use of finest materials - to emphasise the hand-crafted refinement which lies at the centre of the British "personality" of Bentley Motors.

A spiral staircase, which leads visitors into a series of dramatic zones, is wound around a vividly lit piece of kinetic sculpture - a "power vortex" inspired by the revolutionary "W16" crankshaft used in 8-litre engine of the design concept, Project Hunaudières. It evokes a powerful sensation of being in the heart of a mighty Bentley engine.

The exhilarating performance of Bentley Motors is also evidenced by exhibition zones that highlight the marque's racing lineage, as well as by arresting audio-visual spectaculars of the Bentley driving experience.

Craftsmanship skills and the splendour of materials used in creating the motor cars are showcased in "sensation rooms" suffused with the finest of veneers and hand-crafted hides. Here Rolls-Royce is featured within the Bentley Pavilion in its own "jewel box" display, evoking the exclusivity and celebration so special to this unique marque.

The Autostadt experience offers a stimulating insight into the essence of motor cars crafted in Crewe. "We are all tremendously excited about our pavilion," declares the company's chief executive, Tony Gott. "It will allow many thousands of visitors to understand why the 2,400 of us who work for Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motors are proud to do so and to be custodians of two of the greatest marques in the automotive world."

Link to the Bentley Pavilion at Autostadt for more information.