The mulch-munching missile

Bentley will unveil an ethanol-powered car to outrun its fastest models

Mark Milner, industrial editor
The Guardian, Wednesday 25 February 2009

Bentley will unveil its fastest, most powerful production car ever at next month's Geneva motor show. It is tagging the Geneva debutante "the extreme Bentley", a two-seater that harks back to the 1920s and the glamorous, speed-struck "Bentley Boys".
While boasts of supercar performance may sound out of step with straitened times for the car industry and mounting concerns about climate change, Bentley is running the new car on green fuel E85 - containing 85% bioethanol. However, the extreme Bentley is still far more about performance and luxury than economy. It will, for example, accelerate from 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds and, though Bentley has not priced the new model, it will cost at least £140,000. Fuel consumption is 11.5 miles a gallon on an urban cycle and 24.4mpg travelling outside urban areas. Carbon dioxide emissions run at about 388 grammes/kilometre.
For all that, the new car does represent the first stage of Bentley's commitment to improving its environmental performance as well as maintaining "driveability".
Bentley is hardly alone in seeking to buff up its green credentials. At the opposite end of the market, Ford recently launched its Fiesta Econetic, the latest in a range of fuel-frugal cars which already includes the Mondeo and Focus, with a Ka version to come.
Using modifications including lowered suspension, aerodynamic body styling and a gear change alert, the £12,450 Fiesta Econetic's fuel consumption is 76.3mpg and its CO2 emissions are expelled at 98g/km.
Whether green is the new mean, as buyers chase thrifty fuel consumption and lower car taxes, or whether it is driven by genuine environmental concerns or a combination of the two, carmakers and governments know they have to act.
The ability to invest in technologies which cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions will be crucial to companies and countries competing in the global car market with a wider, economic knock-on effect. Much of the industry's research spending is directed towards reducing emissions or producing greener cars. Government bail-outs for the sector have also been linked to environmental targets in many countries.
The industry has spent a lot of time recently stressing the importance of its engineering expertise. As Jaguar Land Rover chief executive, David Smith, took care to point out in a speech in the presence of business and enterprise secretary, Lord Mandelson, JLR "is one of the country's biggest investors in R&D, ensuring our vehicles keep their technological edge on our competitors. In fact, we are one of the top 10 R&D investors in the UK and top 150 globally."
Jaguar Land Rover is not the only big spender on research and development. In 2007 Ford spent more than £400m on R&D in the UK - much of it going on power trains (engines and transmissions) - a vital area for reducing emissions. The UK is a key area for engine manufacture for Ford. Last year the company's Dagenham facility produced more than a million diesel engines, while the Brigend plant manufactured over 700,000 petrol engines. As a rough guide, one in four Ford engines is made in the UK.
And while Ford and Bentley may be at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of target customers, there is a common thread - the UK's engineering resources. Graham Hoare, Ford's executive director for power train engineering who runs the company's Dunton Technical Centre in Essex, said one reason Ford has concentrated its European power train development in the UK is the pool of engineering skills available. It is not only the mass carmakers who use Britain as a base; Formula One and rally teams are also based in the UK.
"UK plc is home to many in the motor sport industry. We have a pool of UK engineers who are stretching the envelope, not just in terms of performance but also in terms of economy and emissions," Hoare said.
The message is not being lost in the corridors of power, not only in the UK but across the world. A substantial portion of the aid handed out to assorted national car industries has a green flavour - not least those offering incentives to buyers scrapping old gas guzzlers for new, lower emission models.
At the same CBI dinner when Smith spelled out JLR's importance to the UK's research and development efforts, Mandelson described the automotive sector as "vital", noting the government's role in helping to secure funds for the industry. His choice of comparison for the £2.3bn package which has government backing might be seen as telling. "That is effectively the same as underwriting the entire vehicle sector's research and development and capital expenditure for a year."
For Bentley the new model springs from a long tradition of speed and comfort, but the engineering capability which has made it possible is another, invaluable, UK tradition.