9781422270271

Far from a fluke, the automaker proved itself again the following year, when it again set new records from the small town of Crewe, England (population: 73,241, according to its 2016 census data). By pulling together, the factory’s workers outpaced the prior year’s production and turned everything around. Bentley Motors had set another sales record, beating its own record from the year before. Whether the world simply wanted luxury in the face of rationing, toilet paper shortages, hospital stays, and general impending disaster, or recognized the toughness of this small city and company, the world bought Bentleys. Even in its home country, sales resurged to their prior levels—the ones before the sales lag. Everyone cheers for the underdog. Everyone should. Someday, the underdog could be you. This book recounts the story of an unlikely company, founded by an unlikely young genius who began his engineering journey at age nine. W.O. Bentley established the automaker in 1919, and today Volkswagen Group owns it but hesitates to change it too much. Read on to learn the details of the auto company that almost wasn’t, and how British ingenuity and determination saved it at a time when all seemed lost throughout the world.

Introduction

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