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The Bentley Arnage is a full-size luxury car manufactured by Bentley Motors in Crewe, England, from 1998 to 2010. The Arnage and its Rolls-Royce-branded sibling, the Silver Seraph, were introduced in the spring of 1998. They were the first entirely new designs for the two marques since 1980. The Arnage was powered by a BMW M62 V8 engine, with Cosworth-engineered twin-turbo installation, and the Seraph employed a BMW M73 V12 engine. In September 2008, Bentley announced that production of the model would end during 2010. Development Following an uplift in sales for all of Rolls-Royce, and a resurgence of the Bentley marque, the then-owner, Vickers, set about developing a new model to replace the derivatives of the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit/Bentley Mulsanne which it had been selling since 1980. In a complete switch from tradition, these new cars would have engines provided by a third-party vendor, and bodies built at the Crewe factory. A number of potential engines were examined, including the GM Premium V engine and the Mercedes-Benz M119 engine, before, in late 1994, Vickers selected a pair of BMW power plants. It was decided that the Rolls-Royce model, to be called the Silver Seraph, would use BMW's naturally aspirated M73 V12 engine while the more-sporty Bentley model would use a special twin-turbocharged 354 PS (260 kW; 349 hp) and 420 lb⋅ft (569 N⋅m) of torque version of the company's 4.4-litre M62 V8 engine developed by Vickers subsidiary Cosworth Engineering. This Arnage was renamed the Arnage Green Label for the 2000 model year. In addition, from 2000 to 2001, a special edition "Birkin" was produced, celebrating Tim Birkin of the "Bentley Boys." Red Label and Green Label During the takeover battle in 1998 between BMW and Volkswagen Group for ownership of Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motors, BMW had threatened to stop supply of their engines if Volkswagen Group won. While the threat was later withdrawn in conjunction with BMW acquiring the right to manufacture Rolls-Royce automobiles at a new location, it was clear that Volkswagen could not accept the business and reputation risks associated with having their rival as a long-term business partner. Furthermore, customers were uncertain about engine and part availability (of which there turned out to be no issue) and orders for new cars dropped precipitously. Volkswagen's response was to adapt the old 16-valve, 6.75-litre pushrod engine from the (Mulsanne) Turbo R for the Arnage body, which had been designed for the smaller and much lighter BMW 32-valve V8. Coupled with an outdated 4-speed automatic gearbox from General Motors, the engine was extremely thirsty, and would not meet government-imposed emissions standards without hasty modifications. The revised version of the car was launched as the Arnage Red Label in October 1999. At the same time, but without fanfare, Bentley made several minor modifications to the original BMW engined cars, and designated them as the "Arnage Green Label" for the 2000 model year. The most important modifications, to both Red and Green Label cars, gave them stiffer body-shells, and larger wheels and brakes. Both the stiffer body-shells and the larger brakes were necessitated by the extra heft of the large old British engine. Despite the larger brakes, braking performance worsened with the extra weight of the 6.75 engine. The braking performance of the 1999 Green Label from 113–0 km/h was 172 feet (52 m) while the later Arnage T's performance was 182 feet (55 m) from the same speed. Revisions included: Standard Alpine pop up navigation system. Park distance control to the front and rear. Increased rear seat leg room (by modifying the design of the front seatbacks). Power folding exterior mirrors. Modifications to the steering rack to reduce steering effort at low speeds. The glass headlight lens covers (1998–99) were revised to plastic (2000 on). Bentley cited customer demand as driving the reversion to the old two valve per cylinder 6.75-litre unit for the Red Label. In reality, the outgoing BMW-powered Arnage was technically more modern, considerably more fuel efficient, and had 32 valves with double overhead camshafts, twin-turbochargers and Bosch engine management technology – as opposed to the 16-valve, single turbocharger and a pushrod engine with less advanced engine management. The Red Label's increase in motive power shaved less than a second of the 0 to 97 km/h (60 mph) acceleration time. However, the BMW twin-turbocharged unit remained noticeably more agile and responsive from a driver's perspective, due to its more responsive character, better weight balance (maintaining a 51.1/48.9 weight distribution) and almost 272 kg (600 lb) lower curb weight. Ultimately the Green Label was more reliable and significantly less expensive to service in the long term. The key limiting factor of the BMW engine's output was the ZF 5HP30 transmission which was not rated to handle more than the 560 N⋅m (413 lb⋅ft) of torque that the twin-turbocharged engine was tuned to produce. Vickers had outsourced the production of the old 6.75-litre Rolls-Royce engine for use in the contemporary Continental R and Azure models to Cosworth, so reverting to the old standby engine was a natural choice for the company. The Red Label model reverted to the old V8 engine, which boasted torque of 835 N⋅m (616 lbf⋅ft) with a single Garrett T4 turbocharger. This was the greatest amount of torque for a four-door car at the time. Also returning was the General Motors-sourced four-speed 4L80-E automatic transmission. In total only seven Arnage Green Label units were built, all of which were left-hand-drive versions. There was a final series of cars built in 2000 with the 4.4-litre BMW engine designated the Arnage Birkin, of which 52 units were produced and are distinguishable by their three-dial as opposed to five-dial instrument center dashboard configuration. A long-wheelbase version of the Red Label was launched at the North American International Auto Show in 2001. The Red Label models were replaced in 2002 by the Arnage R. Model year updates In 2001, the Arnage LWB (renamed the RL from MY2003), a long-wheelbase model (250 mm (9.8 in) longer than the Arnage), was launched. The extra length is added to the car at both its front and rear doors and its C-pillar to maintain its proportions. With the standard Arnage model, the rear wheel wells butt up against the rear door frames, but with the LWB & RL they are a few inches further back. The overall effect is a larger rear area inside the car. This style of saloon stretch is sometimes called "double-cut" in the United States, due to the two main points where the car is extended. (Jankel and Andy Hotton Associates, for example, are two aftermarket coachbuilders especially known for this style.) Available only as a bespoke ("Mulliner") model, each LWB & RL is customised to the desires of the buyer. The LWB, however, was also the first of a new ser.... Discover the Harper Bentley popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Harper Bentley books.