Bentley Azure
Glamorous and desirable, the Bentley Azure represents the pinnacle achievement of a revered line of convertibles that stretches back to the very earliest days of the Bentley legend. The inspiration is classic, the execution is cutting-edge.
PERFORMANCE
The twin-turbocharged engine of the Azure is based on the famous 6.75 litre V8 engine that provides the Arnage with such enormous reserves of power. But Bentley engineers have tailored it to yield its power in a more progressive, more refined manner, in keeping with the Azure’s retrained and elegant character. Nevertheless, with 450bhp (336kW) and a top speed of 168mph (270km/h), it will deliver outstanding performance with understated ease.
CRAFTSMANSHIP
The traditional techniques of craftsmanship employed in the building of the Azure are special in many ways. Individuality of finish and flexibility of design are paramount among them. The attention to detail and the dedication to perfection are clearly evident in the final product, in the touch of every surface and the feel of every texture.
Every veneer leaf is just 0.6mm thick. In the two weeks that it takes to prepare the woodset for your Azure interior, the veneers are given five coats of lacquer and three days of curing time before being wax polished by hand. The woodshop uses no bleaching or staining techniques; the rich colour of the veneers is entirely natural. It can take as many as 24 leaves of veneer to make the main veneered components of your Bentley cabin, each of them still cut by hand in the centuries old tradition of cabinet making.
Bentley is the only coachbuilder to use mirror patterns when applying veneers, placing four successive leaves end to end to make a symmetrical pattern across the fascia, a process known as book matching.
Each leaf of veneer can be traced back to the tree from which it came. The most popular choice is Burr Walnut, the distinctive pattern coming from a fungus in the root ball. These root balls, generally around 1 metre in diameter, would typically be over eighty years old. Each tree used for veneer is past its fruit-bearing age, and is replaced with 3 more. Great care is taken never to use endangered wood species such as mahogany.
It takes more than a dozen separate hides to create the luxurious leather surrounds of the Azure interior cabin. To avoid any variation in texture between the different hides, they are selected and cut at the same time after being minutely inspected for imperfections. Even something as slight as a scratch or an insect bite will cause a hide to be rejected. Which is why our hides are selected from herds in Northern Europe, renowned for their remarkable scarcity of imperfections.
Steering wheels are double-stitched by hand using one continuous piece of thread. Far too complicated to be done by a machine, this hand-stitching process takes as many as 15 hours work to create one steering wheel cover. Every machinist who creates a finished piece of upholstery signs it on the back with his or her initials.
If you would like any information on the Bentley Azure please contact us on (03) 9848 9000 or email bentley@lancedixon.com.au