motoring news 52 March 2022 www.bahrainthismonth.com Bentley’s first-ever Battery-Powered Electric Vehicle (BEV) will be developed and built in the UK with the company committing to investing GBP2.5 billion in sustainability over the next ten years. The announcement is a major boost for the UK economy and also helps secure Bentley’s first step into electrification at the production plant, where all Bentley models are built and 4,000 colleagues work. The first BEV is scheduled to roll off the production line in 2025 and will mark a significant moment in Bentley’s long and illustrious history. It is also a critical step in the company’s Beyond100 strategy – the groundbreaking plan launched in 2020 that will ensure Bentley is exclusively electric and end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030. The significant investment programme will also result in a complete transformation of Bentley’s entire product portfolio, and the historic Crewe Campus by embedding an industry-leading greenfield facility into a world-leading, next generation digital, low environmental impact, high-value advanced manufacturing facility. HERE ARE YOUR CHAMPIONS! Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’, recently crowned the champions of the 2021/2022 Bahrain Drag Racing Championship. The season’s titles were handed out in the official awarding ceremony held at the BIC Paddock. BIC COO Fayez Ramzy Fayez was in attendance, along with other officials from BIC, the Bahrain Motor Federation (BMF) and the Bahrain Drag Racing Club (BDRC), as well as winners and participants from the championship. The newest champions were each presented with a highly coveted Wally trophy—the highest honour in the sport of drag racing awarded only to champions of events sanctioned by the U.S.-based National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). The world-class BIC drag strip is a member of the prestigious NHRA Worldwide Network. The list of honourees included Bahrain1 Racing ace Khaled Al Balooshi (Pro Mod) from the UAE, and four Bahrainis - Abdulla Yaqoub (10.0 Index), Hussain Saeed Yousif (8.5 Index), Yousif Alzayani (Outlaw 6-Cylinder), Hussain Mohammed (Pro 29.5 V8). The 2021/2022 season of the Bahrain Drag Racing Championship featured participants from across the GCC and the US. The championship was organised and run by BIC, the BMF and the BDRC. BENTLEY SECURES UK PRODUCTION OF FIRST ELECTRIC CAR China’s leading automotive company, Chery, has set a global record for being China’s top automotive exporter for the 19th consecutive year as shown in the company’s annual report. According to the report, the cumulative vehicle sales created a new record of 961,926, with a year-on-year increase of 31.7 percent, including total exports of 269,154 vehicles, up 136.3 percent year-on-year, ranking first in the export of Chinese passenger vehicles for 19 consecutive years. So far, Chery Group already has a global user base of over 10 million, including 1.95 million users outside China. The latest peak in popularity of Chery in the global market is owed mainly to the launch of the company’s new PRO series which was created to showcase the brand’s technological advancement starting with the state-of-the-art engine and multiple tech features in every model. After 20 years of global market development, Chery’s products have been exported to more than 80 countries and regions, with accumulated users exceeding 9.9 million. CHERY TAKES LEAD IN CHINA’S EXPORTS
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