A Bentley Bentayga Black Edition? That would be nice, as SUVs are all the rage nowadays. Well, not really. Or maybe a Continental GT Black Edition? Grand tourers still have their fair share of glory. But no, that’s not it, either.
This Special Black Edition is not a car. It is honey. Yes, you read that right. Honey as in that sweet and sticky substance that sweetens your tea, for instance. As strange as it may sound, the luxury carmaker has hives on its grounds in Crewe, with a colony of around one million bees. Honey bees, to be more precise. Back in May, over 400,000 Bentley bees were employed by the company.
For the sweet-toothed aficionados, the British marque is celebrating five years of honey bees at its headquarters in Crewe with just over 500 jars of Black Edition Label honey, collected from the two oldest hives out of a total of 17. There will also be 1,000 jars of regular honey gathered from the 15 remaining hives.
Both types of jars were rebranded by Bentley’s in-house design team with unique labeling to mark the occasion. Over the five years of activity, the carmaker’s headquarters became an Excellence Center for Honey Production. First hives were installed at the Pyms Lane facility in 2019.
Bringing hives in Crewe is part of Bentley’s intention to turn the Pyms Lane facility into an even more environmentally friendly location. It also confirms the carmaker’s target to become leaders in sustainable luxury mobility, Andreas Lee, Board Member for Manufacturing at Bentley Motors, explained.
Photo: Bentley Motors
The honey will not go on sale. Instead, it will be gifted at corporate events, customer visits and charitable as well as Colleague Rerward and Recognition schemes and competitions. This way, Bentley is trying to make all those who receive the jars spread the news about ecology and the role of pollinators.
So, those who are part of the Bentley community might end up with a jar of honey in the glove box of their brand-new Bentayga SUV.
Right now, Bentley’s lineup includes the Bentayga, the Flying Spur, the Continental GT, and the Continental GTC (convertible). The latter, once customized by the Mulliner division, comes as the most expensive of all Bentleys.
The 2023 Bentley Continental GTC Mulliner starts at $328,925 in the United States. It comes with the almighty 6.0-liter turbocharged W12 mated to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, which sends 650 horsepower (659 PS) and 665 lb-ft (900 Nm) to all four wheels.
The convertible runs from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 kph) in just 3.6 seconds on its way to a top speed of 208 mph (336 kph). Just in case the customer is in a hurry to take that Black Edition honey jar home.
Winnie the Pooh, once remarked: 'the only thing better than honey is more honey'. A.A. Milne’s fictional bear would surely have welcomed today’s announcement of a special Black Edition Label honey, marking the fifth honey harvest of the extraordinary ‘#BentleyBees’. pic.twitter.com/NmhYfiSrhx
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