The British luxury car designer Bentley Motors recently announced that it’s launching a non-fungible token (NFT) collection on the Ethereum scaling platform Polygon.
The NFT collection is scheduled to drop in September 2022 and is limited to only 208 NFTs. The number represents the fastest speed of Bentley’s fastest Grand Tourer — the Continental GT Speed. It is also symbolic of the total number of the 1952 R-Type Continental.
Bentley Design is in charge of creating the genesis NFT collection, and collectors who buy the NFTs will have access to exclusive rewards — although specifics about the rewards have not been revealed.
Bentley also pledged that proceeds from the NFT sales would go towards supporting students who are interested in engineering, manufacturing, and design. Furthermore, funds will be used to support organizations working towards sustainability, especially those in the transportation industry.
The Polygon network is carbon neutral, a key reason Bentley — which is aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 — chose the blockchain to release its first collection.
While the price of the NFTs has not yet been disclosed, considering how limited the collection is and how stellar of a reputation Bentley has, the NFTs could fetch a high price tag.
Luxury Car Companies Embrace Web3
By now it’s clear that the automobile industry has recognized that Web3 and NFT technology can help them reach new customers, sell digital assets, and provide novel digital experiences in the metaverse. In fact, at Rarity Sniper, we’ve been reporting on luxury car companies embracing Web3 all year.
The iconic Italian luxury car brand, Lamborghini, has even auctioned off NFTs that were associated with literal vehicles. Recently, Lamborghini sold an NFT that came with a historic Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimate Coupé. That’s right — the IRL utility of the NFT was an actual car.
Also, one of Lamborghini’s fiercest competitors, Bugatti, sold a 1:1 NFT that was accompanied by a gold sculpture of the La Voiture Noire hypercar designed by London jewelry maker Asprey.
Other car companies that have dipped their toes in Web3 include the supercar maker McClaren, BMW, Delorean Motor Company, and Lotus — a British automotive company that manufactures sports cars and racing cars.
Whether or not Bentley and other luxury car companies will succeed in their NFT and Web3 endeavors remains to be seen. But reputable, household-name brands investing time, energy, and money into these nascent technologies looks like another win for the NFT space.