Bentley Continental Coloring Page: Free Printable PDF

Bentley Continental: History & Fun Facts

Reviving a Name From the 1950s

Bentley first used the Continental name on a 1952 grand tourer built for wealthy owners who wanted to drive quickly across Europe in comfort. The company revived the nameplate in 2003 for the Continental GT, a modern coupe built after Volkswagen acquired Bentley in 1998.

That 2003 relaunch mattered because Bentley had struggled with low sales volume for years beforehand. The Continental GT became the car that reintroduced the brand to a much wider group of buyers than its traditional ultra-wealthy clientele.

Built on a Shared Luxury Platform

The modern Continental shares its underlying platform architecture with other Volkswagen Group luxury models, including the Porsche Panamera, letting Bentley's engineers focus development money on the cabin materials, sound insulation, and styling that define the brand.

Sharing a platform across multiple luxury brands let Volkswagen Group spread enormous engineering costs, while Bentley still tuned the suspension, added its own body panels, and hand-finished interiors to keep the driving character distinct from its platform-mates.

A Handcrafted Interior From Crewe, England

Bentley builds the Continental at its historic factory in Crewe, England, where craftspeople hand-stitch leather interiors and fit real wood veneer trim, with some individual cars taking well over 100 hours of interior work alone to complete.

That level of hand craftsmanship is part of why Bentley has kept a large in-house team of leather workers and wood specialists, a labor-intensive approach most mainstream automakers moved away from decades ago.

A W12 Engine Built for Effortless Power

For most of its history, the Continental offered a W12 engine, the same narrow-angle twin-V6 layout later used in other Volkswagen Group performance cars, delivering strong power with a smooth, quiet character suited to long-distance cruising rather than a race-bred exhaust note.

Bentley eventually phased out the W12 in favor of a plug-in hybrid V8 setup as emissions rules tightened, marking a shift toward electrified power while keeping the same emphasis on quiet, torque-rich performance the W12 was known for.

A Formal Grille Shape With Deep Roots

The rounded oval grille shape traced in this outline continues a design language Bentley has used across its lineup for decades, distinguishing its formal, upright front-end styling from the lower, more aggressive noses found on Italian and British sports car rivals.

Keeping that upright, formal grille shape on a car capable of serious speed is a deliberate choice. Bentley has built its identity around blending old-world formality with genuine performance rather than chasing a purely aggressive supercar look.

Convertible and Four-Door Continental Variants

Beyond the two-door coupe shown in this outline, Bentley has built the Continental as a GTC convertible with a folding fabric roof and, for a period, as a four-door Flying Spur sedan sharing much of the same mechanical platform and styling language.

Offering multiple body styles let Bentley reach buyers who wanted the Continental's driving character and interior craftsmanship but needed rear seats for passengers or an open-top cabin for warm-weather touring.

A Car Built for the Cannonball-Style Grand Tour

Bentley has long marketed the Continental around the idea of a grand tour, crossing entire countries or continents in a single comfortable drive, a use case reflected in optional extra-large fuel tanks and long-legged highway gearing on several model years.

That grand-touring mission separates the Continental from track-focused supercars. Bentley has consistently prioritized a quiet, comfortable, high-speed cruising experience over lap times, a philosophy that traces directly back to the original 1950s Continental.