New Bentley identity looks back to the future

Geneva...5th March 2002 Bentley Motors today unveils its new corporate identity, featuring a new and contemporary logo design of the famous winged 'B' badge. A new Bentley logo has, like the company's cars, been conceived to last. Its design, derived from the 1930s version, reflects the marque's redefined core values and will consistently promote worldwide brand awareness as well as reaffirming Bentley's position as the world's leading manufacturer of powerful, sporting and luxurious grand tourers.

"Our new Corporate Identity is a symbol of our confidence in standing alone - becoming Bentley and nothing else - and importantly it embodies all the new Bentley values while respecting our glorious past," says Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen, chairman of Bentley Motors.

He added, "We are seeking to appeal not only to our existing customers but also to new ones, people who may not have considered Bentley before. Carefully positioning the brand visually - and also in the way we behave and present the company - will be a determining route for those people to identify us first, as a company with whom they wish to be associated, and then with us as customers."

Bentley believes that the new logo, which takes its cues from two widely recognised and respected elements, the Bentley "B" and the wings that are on either side, is sufficiently pure yet adaptable to serve it through the period of intense growth and change on which it is now embarked. Although thoroughly forward-looking, the logo's design harks back to Bentley's earliest days, clearly reflecting the marque's heritage and integrity.

The famous Bentley wings have always evoked the movement, power and performance associated with the marque, but in the new design they have been re-examined. Automotive artist Gordon Crosby, a friend of W O Bentley, designed the original winged-B motif in 1911 and the first wings he drew were full and downward pointing, lending them a weighty effect. He also added an extra feather on the right-hand side. While this look built on the character of the marque, it is believed that the motive was not so much aesthetic as designed to combat fraud! The early '30s saw a more streamlined version featured 10 feathers on each side and a horizontal wingspan, suggesting strength and boldness, while the dark oval 'white out of black' centre projected the Bentley 'B' and made it more of a focal point. In the '90s, a less rotund 'B' harking back to the 1920s design was adopted, while the feather tips were in turn made more angular, then rounded and then angular again.

The new Bentley logo echoes the spirit and idiosyncrasy of the original version with its asymmetrical feathers, but at the same time recaptures the confident horizontal wings effect of the '30s, when Bentley was at the peak of its racing success.

The strong 'B' shape of the '20s has been integrated into the design to make it more prominent. Light and shade have been added to the new wings to create a three-dimensional appearance and make the logo stand out on a page like a cast or chrome plated stamped badge.

The word 'Bentley' has been integrated with the logo, in a font consistent with the lettering used on the cars themselves. The effect was achieved by taking rubbings of the engine-cover lettering to create an authentic logo script. The fairly ornate lettering was then refined to impart a strong, purposeful style that fits comfortably with the wing shape.

The result is, arguably, one of the world's most powerful automotive logos and corporate identities, consistent with the cars made by Bentley and its craftsmen and women in its Crewe headquarters.