It's not such horrible news dear boy. It's not as if Bentley's sticking that frightfully underpowered Prius' Synergy Drive into the Arnage. Leftlane News tells me The Bentley Boys plan to hybridize their Eisenhower-era 6.75-liter V8 engine to keep the old girl kosher under the European Union's more stringent emissions laws. The historic powerplant stays. Huzzah! (I'll be sending the boffins some fine port when I get a minute.) While I'm thrilled– thrilled I tell you– that Bentley will use battery power to keep its rolling cathedrals motive, it's a shame they have to meet green laws. I mean, the idea that Bentley's limited production could somehow impact global temperatures is as preposterous as asking their owners to join the Peace Corps. If it was in this writer's hands, so long as Bentley makes cars with more torque than a Peterbilt, they're good to go. Shove a Bugatti Veyron's quad-turbo W16 in there? Why not old bean; why not?
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Very funny!!!
Guilt free luxury – the wave of the future. I have a few carbon offset credits for sale. Anyone interested?
“I mean, the idea that Bentley’s limited production could somehow impact global temperatures is as preposterous as asking owners to join the Peace Corps.”
Just wonderful how the people most able to afford to mitigate their emissions should be the ones that get a pass. Any other benefits you want to give the rich that they don’t need?
Wow Jason,
So I guess those rich guys get a free pass. With that type of thinking all of us regular Joes will be forced to ride bikes to work so those “other” folks can continue to dump as much pollution into the air as they please.
On the other hand Hybrid Powertrains and luxury cars are an excellent fit. Honestly no one is buying a Bentley Arnage to explore the handling limits, but the instant power of electric drive would do wonders for a 4500lb+ automobile.
I say why not. If in the future, us car guys (and girls) still want to have our cake and eat it too, we’ll need technologies like this. Throughout history, most advances for the better in the automobile have started out in low production, expensive cars, or racing. I hate the hypocritical elite too, but remember, eventually technology and materials will trickle down to the other brands that Volkswagen owns.
A car for Yoko.
Bentley must have gotten the idea after her remark that she doesn’t drive a hybrid because none is as comfortable as her Bentley.
Suppose its white?
Hate to burst the collective “rich people suck” bubble here, but giving Bentley a pass on greeniosity doesn’t give the owners a pass. They buy a Bentley whether it gets 3 mpg or 30 mpg, so what’s the effect of making Bentley spend more money? Might as well tax the rich buyers for gas guzzling with a “gas guzzler” tax and a redistributive “you’re rich” tax.
haha, I like that Justin. Isn’t socialism great?
@RyanK02:
Next thing you know we’ll be talking about HillaryCare
If only money were free..
I have been cursed with the belief system of the rich, and the bank account of the a college student.
Wait wait… Justin love your reviews and writing man, but let me see if I understand the logic of your argument here:
Because Bentley makes cars in limited production, and thus has an overall negligible impact on the world’s global temperatures, they should not be subjected to the same rules as other automakers?
@Qusus:
I am mostly saying it in a joking way.
But if I must, say so, Bentleys are awesome and as an automotive enthusiast, I want to see them continue to exist without interference. No, it’s not logical, and no it’s not fair. In fact, it’s a real double standard. If I was passing laws, I probably wouldn’t write in a Bentley exemption. But since I’m just a fool on the net, I’ll be a little more single-minded.
The people who own Bentleys also own private jet planes. By comparison, a 12 MPG Bentley is doing pretty well. It does seem silly to have automobile efficiency requirements but then let people burn up huge amounts of jet fuel. Also seem silly to have efficiency requirements but no per-year mileage limits. I guess I’m just saying that automobile efficiency requirements are just an ineffective way of getting people to save fuel.
What about the leather interiors ? Each bovine used to make those sumptuous Bentley thrones farts an average of 120 liters of greenhouse gassing methane per day (the worst bean consuming human manages only 0.5). For the sake of our children we must ban all leather interiors now !!
@sitting@home:
What? If we don’t use the leather, the cows will keep … passing gas. That’ll just make the greenhouse situation worse. More leather interiors asap!
@Justin Berkowitz
OK, I originally figured it was more tongue-in-cheek than serious since that’s the general tone of these news paragraph things you do. My bad.
Also, I agree Bentley’s are sweeeet. Bentley Hybrid’s would sell by the droves especially to the Hollywood crowd. Not because of any actual improvement in fuel economy or emissions, but just for the “Bentley Hybrid” badge alone.
I’m of the opinion that almost any car benefits from adding a hybrid engine. Less pollution, less gas usage, quieter, less wear and tear on the gas engine and conventional brakes, more reliabile (because of less wear and tear on the gas engine and conventional brakes). Other than the added cost of the electric engine (not really a factor in a Bentley), what’s not to like?
What a hoot! To the third world, every individual North American is as rich and consumes as much proportionately as the Bentley driver does to us. Perhaps more. But we are blind to it. I’m sure the Bentley owner is as highly uninterested in you or me and our personal travails as we are in the plight of the average Mongol.
There again, a nice fat gas tax would solve all those issues all at once, without requiring more laws, amendments, and other complications. But then, our dear lawmakers would get bored, wouldn’t they?
@AKM:
Heaven forbid we make people pay for what they use, and not what they don’t.
Make Bentley pay fines, and the rich guy who buys one will still burn tons (tonnes, I suppose) of gas and pollute up our pristine air. At least make rich man pay for it, rather than poor old Bentley.
Geotpf:
What’s not to like, unfortunately, is that a hybrid Bentley is sorta not a Bentley. Bentley cars aren’t about mileage, better emissions, or even reliability. Efficiency? Bah! They are about taking an extremely heavy vehicle to enormous speeds with a tremendous old-school engine. Also, I’d hate to think of what all those NiMH batteries from the used Bentley hybrids will do to our poor environment. Alas, I kid, I kid.