Car design has always been a bit of a balancing act. On the one hand, manufacturers try to produce iconic and consistent features (e.g. the Porsche 911). On the other, consumers constantly demand fresh looks and progressive details. Bentley has managed to carve an easily identifiable design language – particularly the front end – in the luxury car space, but there were criticisms that the silhouettes were starting to look a little long in the tooth and that the company needed to produce something progressive to kick-start the transition to electric vehicles. Enter the Bentley Mulliner Batur.
Unveiled at Monterey Car Week, the Batur is the product of Bentley’s in-house coach building division, Mulliner, and is arguably the company’s boldest design in decades. Only 18 of the two-door grand touring coupes will be produced, but Bentley says the car will set the tone for the British marque’s first electrified (hybrid and BEV) cars being released in 2025.
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While the exterior is still identifiable as a Bentley, the front end has had a complete overhaul. The renowned grille sits lower are more upright, giving the Batur a prominent snout, and a new headlight shape is an evolution of the single units used on the previous Bacalar. On the rear, all-new tail lamps sit either side of a deployable spoiler, and the lines of the car suggest are more muscular stance.
Bentley’s Director of Design, Andreas Mindt, says: “A mark of power and prestige has always been a long bonnet. Our new design cues include a line that stretches from the bonnet along the whole length of the car, connecting the bonnet into the body, making the car long and lean and giving an elongated proportion to the front end.”
“We call this feature the ‘endless bonnet,’ and it’s the only accent highlight to the cleaner shape. Meanwhile, the visual mass of the car is moved rearwards, giving the impression that the car is sat on the rear axle, which adds further depth to the haunches.”
Powered by the company’s staple 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12, the latest incarnation now produces over 740PS and 1,000Nm, which makes the Batur the most powerful production car to wear the silver wings. To cope with this immense power and torque, Bentley has gone hard in chassis wizardry, adding speed-tuned air suspension, electric active anti-roll control, an electronic LSD, four-wheel steering and torque vectoring.
The interior has continued this progressive design language in the form of sustainable materials. The two-seat interior has been designed with long-distance touring in mind, with customisation as far as the eye can see. Clients are able to tailor their own cabin by choosing between low-carbon leather sourced from Scotland, sustainable tannage leather from Italy, or Dinamica, a sustainable suede-like leather substitute.
All 18 examples of the Bentley Mulliner Batur have been sold for $2.8 million apiece. Customers will be able to determine the colour and finish of virtually every surface of the Batur, and they’ll also be handcrafted in Mulliner’s workshop at Bentley’s carbon-neutral factory (located in Crewe, England).
