Since its inception in 1919, Bentley Motors Limited has been committed to producing luxury cars that will be among the best and fastest built. Almost eighty years later, a new addition, the Bentley Arnage, brought such praise to the brand that, to this day, still stands.

The Bentley Arnage was in production between 1998 and 2009 and was unveiled at the same time as the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph. It had been almost two decades since we saw new designs from both brands and the reception was surprisingly phenomenal. Bentley had been enjoying a long history of prestige and with the Arnage, he further consolidated his brand in the automotive industry. Measuring more than five meters in length and two meters in width, the Arnage originally weighed around 2.5 metric tons and housed the BMW V8 4.4-liter, double turbo engine recently used.

A year later, however, Volkswagen instigated an undesirable acquisition of Rolls-Royce and Bentley convertible. One of the immediate changes implemented by VW was to replace the existing Arnage V8 with the old 16-valve Bentley Turbo R engine. The resulting configuration became known as the Arnage Red Label.

Almost instantaneously after said event, it was considered that the automobile could not meet the emission standards required by the government at that time. In an effort to save Bentley’s reputation, the Arnage was equipped with a stiffer casing and larger brakes to accommodate the replacement engine. These and other modifications paved the way for the Arnage Green Label, which continuously made improvement efforts that led to the creation of a more efficient and reliable car.

The red label finally reverted to the original BMW V8 engine, a long wheelbase version that was produced in 2001. This became the Arnage RL, which mainly featured a more spacious interior rear. This series completely restored all damage to the reputation of the Arnage that were caused by setbacks in the alterations made in the creation of the Red Label years before. Specific customer customizations for some RLs, such as armor protection, increased their value to $ 300,000 for a single car.

Other updates to the Red Label resulted in the release of Arnage R and Arnage T in 2002. Six years later, in what was to be Arnage’s last production year, more modifications were introduced. It was not until August 2009 that the replacement of Arnage, the new Bentley Mulsanne, became known to the public.