H.R. Owen opens in newest Maserati dealership based in Stockport, South Manchester.

• H.R. Owen officially launches new Maserati Manchester South showroom with glamorous party for invited guests
• H.R. Owen Maserati Manchester South joins long-established South Kensington and St. Albans Maserati showrooms
• The site offers sales and servicing and will display the full model range in the showroom, including the highly anticipated Levante when it launches later this year
• H.R. Owen Maserati Manchester South becomes the 11^th H.R. Owen site outside of Central London and the 18^th in total

H.R. Owen has strengthened its Maserati representation with the official opening of a new showroom in the north of England, based in Stockport, an affluent and entrepreneurial area of Manchester. The new showroom joins the existing Maserati site in St Albans and the long-established flagship in South Kensington, London.

Located alongside the existing Lamborghini Manchester site, H.R. Owen Maserati Manchester South will become the newest Maserati dealership in England, offering the full model range, including the Levante SUV when it launches in the UK later this year.

H.R. Owen has almost two decades of history with the Maserati brand, and the new showroom is a great way to further cement this established partnership.

To celebrate the opening, H.R. Owen filled the showroom with Maserati models old and new, including the 2004 6-litre V12 MC12 homologation supercar. The £1.2 million venue was filled with invited guests from across the local area, with cocktails and canapés served and a DJ on hand to entertain throughout the night.

Peter Denton, Region Manager, Maserati North Europe, said “It’s wonderful to see the opening of the new H.R. Owen Maserati showroom. This new dealer site reinforces Maserati’s commitment to expanding our sales network by 50%, increasing representation in local markets for both sales and aftersales. This, coupled with additions to the current model range - such as the Levante - set to further increase appeal across a wider luxury customer base, supports plans to increase global production to 75,000 units by 2018 (in 2015 this figure was 32,500).

Mark Langfield, H.R. Owen’s Maserati brand director, is excited to take the brand to Manchester, commenting: “It was great to welcome guests to the new showroom and update them on Maserati and H.R. Owen’s plans for the next few years. The event was an engaging and entertaining way to introduce our presence in the local area.

“H.R. Owen has a long history with the famous Italian manufacturer and with major new models launching in 2016, and the continued success of the Ghibli, there has never been a better time to take the Maserati brand to a new location, extending our reach beyond London and the south of England.”

Kensington & Chelsea’s proposal to draft a new set of laws to deal with wealthy Middle Eastern supercar drivers.

‘Kensington and Chelsea – don’t demonise supercars,’ pleads Prindiville’s founder, Alex Prindiville.

‘The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s proposal to draft a new set of anti-social behaviour laws to deal specifically with the “menace” of wealthy Middle Eastern supercar drivers is heavy-handed and unnecessary,’ argues Alex Prindiville, founder and owner of Prindiville, central London’s only supercar showroom.

‘Existing laws are already perfectly adequate to deal with the minority of supercar drivers who step out of line, provided they are properly enforced,’ reasons Alex. ‘The proposed Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) to be applied to a large spread of Knightsbridge is using the proverbial sledgehammer to crack a nut.

‘While I can fully sympathise with local residents who are upset by the anti-social behaviour of the few, the proposed terms of the PSPO are an excessive response – forbidden will be playing music loudly in your car, travelling in convoy, revving your engine, letting your engine idle, causing either a stationary or moving obstruction, sounding your horn, accelerating rapidly, and a few more things besides.

‘Will these new rules be evenly applied to all, I wonder. Will three Range Rovers in a row taking kids to a party be treated as a convoy? 

If those Range Rovers then stop on double yellow lines to disgorge the children, will that be seen as a stationary obstruction? If the mums dropping the kids off then have a little chat by the roadside with their doors open and music playing inside the car, will they be prosecuted?

‘If I were to go shopping at Harrods in the Ferrari LaFerrari currently in the Prindiville showroom and when I started it up it revved loudly – which it would because that’s simply what happens with supercars like these, whether you like it or not – would I be arrested and have my car impounded?

‘I don’t doubt that some of the young Arabs in their powerful supercars do cause a genuine nuisance, but apart from the price of their cars, are the rest of them so very different from young lads the length and breadth of this country? 

Existing police powers will sort out the troublemakers in Newcastle or Birmingham, Bristol or Brighton, so why does Kensington and Chelsea require anything extra?

‘Besides which, if I show up in Knightsbridge with, say, three cars that I wish to show to a client, I don’t want to feel that I could be liable to prosecution simply for parking them all together. 

Good old-fashioned policing could sort out a lot of local residents’ concerns – devising new laws is simply political posturing. Please let common sense prevail.’

Bentley to preview full Home ware collection at the prestigious Salon del Mobile.

• Complete range of Bentley Home Collections on show at the prestigious Salon del Mobile
• A modern aesthetic sensibility and refined craftsmanship, expressing a synthesis between tradition and innovation
• Collaboration with leading Italian interiors company defines luxury lifestyle direction for homes and offices

Bentley Motors introduces its complete Home Collection for the first time at Salon del Mobile 2014, designed and manufactured in collaboration with Luxury Living Group, one of Europe’s leading furniture makers. The collection is inspired by the renowned craftsmanship and exquisite materials that characterise the interiors of all Bentley models.

Exclusive design

Elegant, sophisticated and glamorous, the Bentley Home Collection creates an exclusive atmosphere thanks to its unmistakable style, where excellence and exquisite taste merge together perfectly. Furnishings and decorations have been created by architect Carlo Colombo in collaboration with Daniele Ceccomori, Bentley’s head of Product Design, defining a new ultra-luxury model for home and executive interiors. 

Craft and sensibility

Based in Forlì, Italy, Luxury Living Group specialises in the production and distribution of luxury furniture – combining the highest quality craftsmanship with a rigorous aesthetic sensibility which links Bentley’s inherent qualities of heritage and tradition, exclusivity and style, with the most technical and architectural aspects of furniture design. The collection is an exercise in subtlety, incorporating functional performance with comfort and luxurious, sensuous quality. It captures the style of the Bentley driver through items that mirror the impeccable quality and attention to detail of the Crewe-based marque.

The colour palette is characterised by natural and pastel nuances. The mocha, cognac, taupe, quartz, grey and camel flank variations of purple-red, burgundy, brick red or blue. The combinations exalt the use of tactile leather and sensuous textiles. Hints of male attire, pinstripe or hounds-tooth, are introduced into sophisticated velvets and the lightest of cashmeres, crafted with three-dimensional patterns.

Utilised in the upholstery, they are also woven as novel and precious carpets – hand-knotted, made of fine wools, silk or pashmina – as well as refined blankets hemmed in mink. Finely crafted leather upholstery - with its signature quilted diamond pattern or elegant padded texture - further enhance the collection’s pieces.

The Richmond collection develops the theme of the double shell, in burr walnut briar root, used in other models of the collection, as well as for the interior of Bentley cars made at its headquarters in Crewe. Ebony Macassar essence and Calacatta marble make for a precious decorative effect, matching the steel gun-metal finishing of the base. Finely crafted leather upholstery - with its signature quilted diamond pattern or elegant dimpled texture – add further aesthetic interest to the furniture collection. 

Kevin Rose, Board Member for Sales & Marketing, comments:
“It is a signature moment for Bentley’s entire Home Collection to be exhibited at the Salon del Mobile in Milan. The collection embodies Bentley’s emergence as a modern high luxury brand. It combines sophisticated materials with contemporary design and the ultimate in bespoke craftsmanship. This exciting collaboration captures the shared values of Bentley and Luxury Living, with unrivalled attention to detail and a stunning translation of the timeless style of the brand into home and executive suite interiors.”

Alberto Vignatelli, CEO and chairman of the Luxury Living Group, says:
“We accepted with enthusiasm the challenge of interpreting in furnishings the exclusivity and charm of Bentley. In the Bentley Home collection there co-exist a passion for details, care of materials and a style that anticipates the trends while remaining true to the codes of elegance and tradition. The perfect synthesis of values, the same we find at the wheel of a Bentley. I strongly believe in this collection which is already attracting acclaim internationally.”

Individual pieces

MINSTER SOFA

Harmonious shapes and flowing lines are highlighted through the subtle proportions of the arms with their unique curve. Available in leather or fabric, the body and seat come in distinguished burgundy velvet matched with a velvet piping along the edges.

BUTTERFLY SOFA & ARMCHAIR

Butterfly, the new system made up of sofa and armchair, masterfully interprets Bentley’s style values. The deep, plush seat is encased in a shell quilted with Bentley’s iconic diamond pattern. The geometry of its side neatly reaches outward, providing a contemporary touch that reflects a cosy yet dynamic form. The sofa is presented in cognac leather and blue pinstriped interior, quilted in fine grey wool.  

KENSINGTON ROYCE ARMCHAIR

The comfortable shape of the Kensington effortlessly epitomises the style code of the renowned British car maker. The design, light and balanced in form, is enriched by the version with ice grey leather and seating made in slightly iridescent champagne shades.

MADELEY TABLE

This oval or round table it truly spacious. Madeley has a trapezoidal base made of leather-covered bent-wood panels. The top of the table is now available in a new version of chestnut briarwood root. 

AMBASSADOR CABINET

Ambassador is the range of storage units ideal for the living area and home office. The lines of the Ambassador cabinet express formal neatness while the detail and finish matches the intensive customisation of all the accessories. The version with exposed doors in hardened smoked glass brings a new contemporary look to storage, as does the version with chestnut doors.

Prices:

Butterfly sofa:  Euro 10,160; £ 11,090; $ 14,880

Butterfly armchair: Euro 6,300; £ 6,870; $ 9,220

Minster sofa: Euro 10,100; £ 11,020; $ 14,790

Kensington Royce armchair: Euro 9,860; £ 13,450; $ 18,040

Madeley Table: Euro 16,840; £ 22,970; $ 30,820

Ambassador Cabinet: Euro 18,380; £ 25,070; $ 33,640