Vertu And Bentley Agree Five Year Luxury Smartphone Deal

Luxury smartphone manufacturer Vertu has agreed a five-year partnership with car manufacturer Bentley to create five new handsets in what is being described as the “marriage” of two great British brands.

The first ‘Vertu for Bentley’ device will appear by October 2014, complete with both Vertu’s premium services, such as its concierge feature and access to private members’ clubs, and exclusive Bentley content through a dedicated application.

Vertu says its ambition is to create the world’s best luxury smartphones – the company prides itself on creating them from precious materials and building them by hand at its Hampshire factory.

Vertu for Bentley

“Vertu is the contemporary embodiment of English craftsmanship,” explains Vertu CEO Massimiliano Pogliani. “We are an understated, luxury brand and we wanted to work with an automotive partner that reflected our own positioning.”

Bentley is owned by Volkswagen but its headquarters are in Crewe. The new devices will be jointly-designed by both companies to appeal to their mutual customers’ “desire for sophistication, craftsmanship and precision engineering.”

“The collaboration expands Bentley’s luxury range into the cutting-edge world of mobile communications and offers customers a new way to experience the world of Bentley,” adds Wolfgang Dürheimer, chairman and CEO of Bentley Motors. “Today, we see the marriage of two great brands with an international presence and quintessential British heritage and character.”

No details about the planned devices have been offered, but they could be based on one of Vertu’s existing range. The company’s current flagship device is the £6,700 Signature Touch, which promises to encrypt users’ communications through Silent Circle services. Other Vertu smartphones include the Signature and the £4,100 Constellation.

Established by Nokia in 1998, Vertu has produced some of the most expensive phones in the world. Its phones can only be purchased from 500 retailers, including 70 of its own boutiques, but there are believed be more than 300,000 Vertu owners around the world. Nokia sold Vertu to a Swedish private equity firm last year in a transaction believed to be worth around £162.5 million.

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