Bentley Opens New Engineering Technical Centre in Crewe
Bentley Motors has opened its world-class Engineering Technical Centre at the luxury marque’s carbon-neutral headquarters in Crewe, strengthening British automotive innovation and luxury car development. Chairman and CEO Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser and Board Member for R&D Dr Matthias Rabe led the opening, which positions the brand to accelerate future model development and electric vehicle leadership.
The Engineering Technical Centre forms part of a wide investment programme in facilities and products at the Pyms Lane factory in Crewe, where craftspeople handbuild every Bentley. The centre unites virtual and physical capabilities to enhance collaboration across engineering, design, and manufacturing, supporting faster prototyping, rigorous testing, and seamless software integration.
Set across two floors and spanning 13,000 square metres, the centre features a prototype workshop for future models, materials development labs, and a dedicated software integration department. Teams apply structured, comprehensive training and testing to prepare software and electrical, digital high-voltage systems for launch, ensuring reliability, safety and the highest standards of luxury mobility.
Bentley has relocated most of these departments from the historic A1 building at Pyms Lane. The company is transforming A1 into a BEV assembly facility, with production scheduled to start in 2027, advancing Bentley’s electric car strategy and UK manufacturing footprint.
Commenting on the developments, Dr Matthias Rabe, Bentley’s Member of the Board for R&D, said: “Our Beyond100+ strategy maps out a fundamental programme of change, using what is known now and adapting that vision as we adopt yet-to-be-discovered technologies in the future. We are working on the next generation of electrified driving, digitally connected cars, with driving autonomy that will achieve the highest levels of luxury mobility.
“This new Engineering Technical Centre is a key building block for the successful delivery of this strategy and helps enable engineering concepts to become reality at the heart of development and integration, as we look to continue to create the most luxurious and performance-oriented vehicles on the market.”
Bentley’s industry-leading Beyond100+ strategy will reinvent the entire product range for an electrified future, from hybrid technology to battery-electric vehicles. The opening of the Engineering Technical Centre supports these ambitions, alongside further on-site expansions, including the recently opened Design Studio and the ongoing construction of the new Paint Shop and Integrated Logistics Centre, both of which are due to open next year.
