Bentley celebrates pride in diversity

Bentley Motors is partnering with Cheshire East Council for the North West of England’s first virtual Pride event which takes place on Saturday 25 July.  The announcement celebrates three key themes for Bentley: pride in the diversity of its colleagues at the home of Bentley in Crewe and around the world, hope and gratitude as the business begins to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis and ongoing support for the local community.

To celebrate, a Bentley Continental GT V8 Convertible has been wrapped in a rainbow design showcasing six of Bentley’s bespoke paint colours.  The car will feature during the online Pride event which can be watched anywhere in the world.

Pride of place in our community

Dr. Astrid Fontaine, Bentley’s Member of the Board for People, Digitalisation and IT, explains:

“We embraced the opportunity to create our first rainbow car, because rainbows are recognised as an icon for the LGBTQ+ community and Pride events which celebrate individuality and take place around the world during June and July.

“As Bentley steps up its emphasis on the importance of diversity and inclusion, we’re delighted to be sponsoring Cheshire East’s virtual Pride celebrations on Saturday 25 July – and our rainbow Bentley captures the essence of that perfectly.

“The actual design of the car was inspired by a concept submitted in a competition we held during lockdown for colleagues and their families to co-create a Bentley that captured the moment. The stand-out winner was Eleanor (age 5). Her design also reflects our thanks to the local services that have supported us, and the work many of our colleagues have undertaken to support our local community over the last few months”.

Cheshire East’s Virtual Pride 2020 will take place on Saturday 25 July from 14.00 BST – 19.00 BST and will feature an eclectic mix of interviews, music, competitions, performances and information supporting the LGBTQ+ community.  

The rainbow Continental GT V8 Convertible will feature by video during the virtual event, alongside interviews with Bentley colleagues who are supporting the Pride experience.

You can find out more information on how to join the event via www.prideinthepark.com

All the colours of the rainbow

To successfully wrap the car, Bentley’s in-house designers and colour and trim team turned a concept created from a colleague competition into reality on a Continental GT Convertible. This V8 model, with its unparalleled levels of luxury and cutting edge technology, featuring 20-inch 10-spoke painted alloy wheels, subtle V8 badging and a sublime, handcrafted interior, will take pride of place in the CW1 showroom in Crewe during this month.   

Maria Mulder, Head of Colour and Trim at Bentley, says the rainbow-wrapped car conveys a feeling of emotional well-being, human connection and wonder:

“Who doesn’t love a rainbow,” she says. “It’s uplifting to see appearing in the sky above a dark cloud and it brings a feeling of hope. It also gives us an element of emotional wellbeing.

“Rainbows are the result of science delivering beauty. They are about the reflection and refraction of light. The rainbow-wrapped car shows the way we use metallic pigments to create an effect which shows up the body styling lines of the Continental GT Convertible, while the contoured pigments of beautifully polished high gloss surface reflects the environment around it.”

The bespoke Bentley colours employed to inspire the wrapped model mirror those of the rainbows seen in the natural world. Dragon Red; Orange Flame; Yellow Flame; Apple Green; Sequin Blue; Azure Purple.

Dragon Red is an arresting and distinguished metallic, evoking a sense of speed and presence. It displays a fiery character befitting the extrovert eye-catching intensity of this sporting red.

Orange Flame (metallic) makes the boldest of statements. Mixed with ‘Mica’ pigment and aluminium, it is painted in a single layer, topped with a clear coat, cured and then finished with a ‘mirror finish’ polish.

Yellow Flame is a unique colour created for the Mulliner coach-built Bacalar limited edition model. This specially developed paint reflects a striking transition of colour that intensifies the drama of form and contours.

Apple Green (metallic) brings a fresh, modern hue to the green spectrum and provides a striking pop of confident colour.

Sequin Blue (metallic) developed from a special request from a customer to match the colour of a sequin on her favourite dress, a rich metallic blue with a deep shadow and unrivalled ability to draw attention to the exterior shape and form of all models.

Azure Purple (metallic) is a dark, rich shade with blue undertones created when Bentley was asked to match the unmistakable colour of the beautiful African Violet flower.

Chasing rainbows

Various conditions need to be in place for a rainbow to occur and for it to be seen. The sun needs to be shining behind you; there has to be a rain cloud or moisture in the air in front of you; the sun must be shining through the rain cloud at an anti-solar point of 42 degrees (the point where the shadow of your head is) directly away from the sun.

Rainbows are a meteorological and optical phenomenon and have inspired, mystified and awed people across the world for thousands of years. This natural occurrence never fails to lift a heart and cause people to pause in wonder – exactly the effect that the rainbow Continental GT Convertible is destined to elicit in its actual and ‘virtual’ viewers.