Bentley Mulsanne Turbo: 30 years ago this week, Bentley was re-born

1982 Bentley Mulsanne Turbo (photo courtesy WO Bentley Memorial Foundation) The Bentley Mulsanne Turbo was launched thirty years ago this week at the 1982 Geneva Motor Show, and Bentley was re-born. It’s hard to believe now, but until Rolls Royce launched the Bentley Mulsanne Turbo in 1982 Bentleys were nothing more than re-badged Rolls Royces and accounted for an insignificant 5 per cent of Rolls Royce sales. But the Bentley Mulsanne Turbo changed all that and put Bentley on the road to success with the first ’Blower’ Bentley in half a century.

Aston Martin drops Cygnet city car

Autocar is reporting that the diminutive Aston Martin Cygnet has been dropped from the company’s portfolio. The automaker, now owned by Prodrive and private equity firm Invenstindustrial, will focus on its “core product range,” also known as “good cars.” Autocar posits that the justification for the Cygnet was to continue producing V8 and V12 cars, while keeping its average CO2 emissions down. The Cygnet shared bones with the Toyota iQ city car and used a 97-hp, 1.3-liter engine and got 58.9 mpg using the U.S.

Mercedes-Benz hires BMW designer

Seems like the Mercedes-Benz design department is bulking up on new talent. Karim Habib, the exterior designer of the new BMW 7-series, has been lured to Mercedes-Benz where he will head up the advanced design studio on the outskirts of Stuttgart, Germany. Habib will work under Mercedes-Benz's new design boss, Gorden Wagener.