Bentley to stop building cars for six weeks
As expected, Bentley will be forced to slow production of its high-end luxury cars for several weeks over the next few months. According to Bentley's U.S. spokesman David Reuter, the newer Continental line will shut down for a period of seven weeks, while the slightly more mature Arnage production line will go on hiatus for six weeks. Over the course of 2008, sales dropped by roughly 30%, leading Bentley's factory in Crewe to cut production by about 15% and things aren't expected to improve in 2009. Regardless, Bentley's German ownership isn't yanking development dollars from the British brand, so any new products that were slated for introduction in 2009 are still on schedule.