Bentley is owned by Volkswagen Group (Germany, XETRA: VOW3), which acquired the brand on 28 July 1998 for £430 million.[1][2] Bentley was founded in 1919 in Crewe and was independent until 1998.
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Annual Report 2025, Volkswagen AG. Last checked .
Bentley won Le Mans five times in the 1920s and has been built in Crewe since 1946. Volkswagen bought the company in 1998 in a confused auction that gave BMW the Rolls-Royce name and Volkswagen the factory the cars were made in.
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Volkswagen Group ownership tree →
See the full Volkswagen Group brand portfolio (11) →
Volkswagen Group controls 11 brands on Brandtree, 9 of them in automotive.
Volkswagen Group has more brands in luxury cars on Brandtree than any other owner: 2 of 19.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| BMW | BMW Group | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Denza | BYD | 🇨🇳 China |
| Mercedes-Benz | Mercedes-Benz Group | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Jaguar | Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles | 🇮🇳 India |
| Lincoln | Ford | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Hyptec | GAC Group | 🇨🇳 China |
| Volvo Cars | Geely | 🇨🇳 China |
| Cadillac | General Motors | 🇺🇸 United States |
Volkswagen Group is a publicly listed company headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany, founded in 1937. Brandtree records 11 brands under its control, and it is listed as XETRA: VOW3.
Volkswagen Group is the largest carmaker in Europe and owns more distinct marques than any rival, from Škoda at the bottom to Bentley and Lamborghini at the top. The state of Lower Saxony holds a blocking stake, and the Porsche and Piëch families control the majority of voting rights.
Volkswagen Group: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 552 brands that began in the United Kingdom. 291 of them (53%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Bentley among them.
Volkswagen bought Rolls-Royce Motors for about £430 million, acquiring the Crewe factory and the Bentley marque. BMW separately secured the Rolls-Royce name and badge from the aero-engine company, so the winner of the auction did not get the brand it had bid for.
The parent company of Bentley is Volkswagen Group, a publicly listed company headquartered in Germany.
Bentley originated in the United Kingdom in 1919, but it is owned today by Volkswagen Group, which is headquartered in Germany. So Bentley is a British-origin brand under German ownership.
Volkswagen Group completed its acquisition of Bentley on 28 July 1998, after announcing the deal on 28 June 1998. The deal was valued at £430 million (enterprise value).
Bentley was an independent company from its founding in 1919 in Crewe until Volkswagen Group acquired it in 1998.
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Bentley is still owned by Volkswagen Group. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
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