Bentley has unveiled an exclusive new limited-prodution coupé called the Mulliner Batur. Based on the Continental GT, the Batur previews Bentley’s new design language as it prepares for a new era of electric models.
Powered by Bentley’s famous W12 engine, the new coupé is the creation of the company’s in-house ‘Mulliner’ team, which handles special limited-edition projects. Like previous models, the Batur is named after a body of water around the world – in this case, Lake Batur in Indonesia.
Only 18 Mulliner Batur models will be offered, all hand-built in Crewe with the first deliveries expected in the middle of next year. As is often the case with this sort of exclusive model, the company offered them to its favourite customers, who presumably snapped them up without even blinking at the £1.7 million price tag.
For the rest of us who are not on the Bentley CEO’s speed dial, the Mulliner Batur previews what the next generation of electrified Bentleys will look like, as the manufacturer looks ahead to the scheduled launch of its first all-electric model in 2025.
Compared to Bentley’s current flagship coupé – the Continental GT – the Mulliner Batur has a squarer, sharper look, with a more vertical grille and a very thick rear window pillar.
Bentley has dropped its traditional circular headlight design for a more angular teardrop shape. The tail lights in the rear follow the same design pattern, which sit below a pop-up bootlid spoiler.
According to the brand’s Mulliner division, customers will be able to specify the colour and finish of “practically every surface” of the Batur, with an “infinite” number of paint colours for both the bodywork and the car’s 22-inch alloy wheels.
There are different options for the exterior chrome trimmings, and buyers can even choose the material that the front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser are made from – a choice of carbon fibre or a more eco-friendly natural fibre composite.
Stepping inside, customers have three different upholstery options to choose from, with leather or a suede-like ‘dinamica’ material on offer. The show car unveiled this week features a black, red and orange interior colour scheme, with a unique “Batur Chevron” seat stitching design and an 18-carat gold gear lever.
As we head towards the 2030 deadline for the end of new petrol car sales, the Mulliner Batur is also the final hurrah for the brand’s 12-cylinder engine, which Bentley says is “entering its twilight years”.
This 6.0-litre engine has been fitted to Bentley models for over 20 years now, and has received further tuning for the debut of the Mulliner Batur, now producing 740hp – 90hp more than the Continental GT Mulliner.
Assuming that the new owners actually drive them, rather than locking them away in secure garages, you can expect to see them hitting streets next summer.
