During the fight between BMW and Volkswagen Group for control of Rolls Royce and Bentley Motors, BMW threatened to stop supplying engines if Volkswagen won the battle. Whatever the threat has fizzled (linked to the right had acquired to build the BMW Rolls-Royce at Crewe elsewhere), it was clear that Volkswagen could not accept to remain dependent on his rival for the provision of engines. Volkswagen’s answer was to take over the old V8 6.75 liter of the Turbo R , and install under the hood of the Arnage. Unfortunately, this engine was very greedy, and did not meet emission standards. Major changes were necessary.
The revised version of the V8 equipped the Arnage Red Label was launched in October 1999. At the same time, BMW changed its own engine, which equipped versions referred to as the “Arnage Green Label” for the 2000 model year. Apart from the changes in car ownership, as well as the Red Green Label benefited from an improved habitability, wheels and brakes enlarged, and additional equipment such as radar parking.
The communication service Bentley praised the customer the impression of endless torque provided by the return to the old 6.75 liter V8 powering the Red Label The fact that the BMW engine was more modern, much cheaper, had 32 valves, a distribution double overhead cam head and electronic management at the forefront of the technology was ignored. The big driver of Red Label actually enhance acceleration from 0 to 60 mph ( 97 km / h ) and less than one second, while the BMW engine was still more likely to rev up, more elastic, and provided the advantage of giving the car a perfect 50/50 weight distribution between front and rear.
That said, Red Label, with its turbocharged single Garret T4 type, offering a torque of 835 newton-meters, a record for a sedan at the time. The huge torque required the use of the transmission four-speed 4L80-E General Motors. A long wheelbase version of the Red Label was launched at the International Motor Show in North America in 2001. The Green Label ceased to be produced in 2000, the Red Label in 2002.
Extended version and Series 2