Is Bentley about to become Audi in posh clothes?

According to reports from Germany, Volkswagen plan to put Bentley under the control of Audi is a rationalisation of its brand portfolio.

Just last month we reported that VW are planning to sell Bugatti to Rimac as they look for a way to rationalise their diverse brands and fund a future of electric cars.

But that report also made it clear that VW are looking way beyond selling Bugatti to get their soldiers in line for a new era, with plans to perhaps offload Lamborghini and Bentley.

It starting to look likely that VW will try to do with Lamborghini what Fiat did with Ferrari and give it a stock market listing but, according to Automobilwoche in Germany, Bentley is going to become a subsidiary of Audi.

It seems the plan is for Bentley to use the same underpinning as Audis, in particular benefitting from Audi’s ‘Artemis’ plan, a plan to create highly automated electric vehicles, with the next generation Bentley Continental GT and Flying Spur also using the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) which is being developed by Audi and Porsche, and a new Bentley SUV too.

There also seems to be plans to tone-down Bentley’s ‘Bling’ – perhaps responding to Rolls-Royce and the new Ghost – and keep Bentley profitable even if Brexit deals UK car makers a heavy blow.