Ever since he was a child, Rodney Foster has coveted all things Bentley.
He bought a Continental Flying Spur seven years ago, in cypress green with honey-colored leather seats. And then, last year, he acquired another Bentley item with hints of wood and leather.
That last purchase wasn’t a car. Mr. Foster bought 3.4 ounces of Bentley cologne online for $89, to perfume his vehicle as well as himself.
“Bentley represents a lifestyle,” said Mr. Foster, 48, who also owns a few polo shirts with the company’s logo. “It makes you feel that you’ve accomplished something.”
Several luxury automakers, including Bentley, have been expanding the lines of goods they sell that have little to do with cars. Earlier this month, Bentley, a British brand, announced its fifth men’s fragrance in the last two years. The company’s winged hood ornament adorns the top of a special-edition cologne bottle.
Bentley also lends its name to furniture, skis, handbags and hotel suites. Similarly, Ferrari stamps its prancing horse logo on chess sets, Tod’s loafers and Oakley sunglasses, while Lamborghini, Maserati and Tesla offer leather goods, from briefcases to bracelets.
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Rob Bailey, a psychologist from Oxford, England, said he laughed when he saw the new scent, advertised in the British Airways in-flight magazine last month. “My first reaction was to imagine the smell of varnished walnut and engine oil,” Mr. Bailey said. “Then I read the description and thought, ‘maybe I’m not far off.’”
Mr. Bailey, 43, said Bentley’s fragrance, which starts at $74 and also comes in a body wash and shampoo, held little appeal for him. “It’s not that I’m a cheapskate,” he said. “It’s just not a statement I think about making.”
Still, for some brand loyalists like Mr. Foster, the Bentley owner, the scent, which he bought without a whiff, inspired serious interest. Mr. Foster, who lives in Washington, works in commercial real estate and imports German wine, has three unopened bottles of another Bentley scent, “Intense,” lined up for when he runs out. He said he switched from Bond No. 9 to Bentley’s fragrance for the fall and winter, because the woody perfume was too overpowering for other seasons.
“I wanted something that no one was going to have,” he said.
But his loyalty to Bentley products is not limitless. He does not favor the carmaker’s furniture, with sofas selling for more than $14,000. For that price, he said, “I would want something more luxurious, like of a velvet material.”
