Rolling in Money.

This article investigates what makes the Bentley Continental T Mulliner automobile worth half-a-million dollars, as a new wave of superluxury cars comes to market as of March 2001. The starting price of a Mulliner is $315,900. Bentley's personal-commissioning staffers can customize it from tires to trim. The team decked out the car on display in Detroit, Michigan with special side-panel air vents with vertical louvers, a quilted-leather interior, and a set of suitcases that sit in their own holster. How can a car cost so much? The answer lies at Bentley's picturesque 55-year-old factory in Crewe, England. For anyone used to sprawling, high-technology auto mills, the Bentley plant is a revelation. Inside, there is not a robot to be seen, just a bit of automation back in the paint shop, and every step along the assembly line brings a new example of meticulousness.