The BMW Group’s decision to launch a new posh version of the Mini hatch called “Mini Inspired by Goodwood” motivated Bulgarian design studio Vilner to develop its own luxed-up variant of the British supermini. However, while the Goodwood model received the Rolls Royce touch, Vilner’s proposal tries to emulate a Bentley – at least in the interior.

Even though Vilner has baptized the car “The Italian Job” as homage to the famous movie, for obvious reasons, a more appropriate name would have been “Mini Inspired by Crewe”. The Bulgarian company has dressed the Mini hatchback’s interior with fine materials such as brown Nappa leather and Alcantara, with parts of the seats, door panels, dashboard and roof lining featuring a diamond shape theme. In addition, the doors have gained elements of black leather while the original plastic was re-sprayed in a sparkling gray finish.

Vilner also took care of the Mini Cooper S’ exterior which sports a grey matte foil-wrap with contrasting black racing stripes and a matching color roof along with new 18-inch alloy wheels.

Bentley Motors sold 396 cars in Mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) in the first four months of 2011, an all-time record result for the Asian market. With this number, Bentley broke its previous record set just last year, by an amazing 66 percent increase in sales.

In 2010, Bentley delivered fewer than 1,000 cars in China, almost double than in 2009, with China becoming the third most important market for the luxury carmaker. But the results so far in 2011 mean China has outsold the United Kingdom for the first time in history, making the Asian country Bentley's second most important market after the United States. In fact, one in four Bentleys sold globally goes to China.

The sales record has largely been achieved before the arrival in China of the new Continental GT and Mulsanne, which means there is a lot of room for Bentley to improve its sales. Around 50 of the 396 cars sold in China were spoken for during the Shanghai auto show, with 25 of those being Continental GT models.

“Our Chinese customers, like the rest of the world, value Bentley’s history and our emphasis on the finest luxury, craftsmanship and automotive excellence. Although China has traditionally been a market for four-door cars such as the Mulsanne and the Continental Flying Spur, there is growing interest in the excitement, adrenalin and sheer fun of driving high performance sports car,” said Alasdair Stewart, Bentley's board member for sales and marketing.

To acknowledge China's importance to Bentley, the company is hosting its Worldwide Dealer Conference in Beijing, the first time that Bentley has held such an important event in Asia.

By Dan Mihalascu