Merc1
Premium
They’re both still old money by far in their presentation. Updated for sure but still old money mature. What they’ve done today is besides the point he was making. I took it as the garish interiors and firmer suspension and more power as a play for Bentley buyers, something they wouldn’t have done when they were together under Vickers. It’s essentially a sport pack for a Rolls Royce.I think, simply claiming that Rolls-Royce are simply trying to appeal to the Bentley crowd now misses the point quite a lot. Rolls-Royce's evolution under BMW has helped to differentiate it from Bentley's faux-old-money style look, and move it on from it's own old-money roots. Whilst conventional logic is that Rolls-Royce was luxury, and Bentley was performance, in reality since Rolls-Royce was taken over by BMW it has had to move to attract younger buyers for the future in a changing world, irrespective of what Bentley were doing - that's the reason for this 'aesthetic'. Rolls-Royce's typical aesthetic would never have come to fruition either under VW, it would have been more badge engineering.
Looking at the final cars made as Rolls-Royce & Bentley Motor Cars...
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And looking at their latest offerings.
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I think they've both done a pretty good job of defining their own identities.
M