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by Eugen Beduhn
Engine: 6.75L V8
Retail Price: starting from 220,000 pounds (290,000 euros or 285,000 dollars MRSP) Competing Models: "Competing Segment" on right side of "Best Autos & Cars in the World" page More information on: www.bentleymotors.com
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The
return of the new big Bentley's Mulsanne name in 2010 underlines Bentley’s
sporting heritage and passion for power and speed. Nothing reflects that
prowess better than the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours race, and one strip
of this race track's bents is named Mulsanne. The car body is produced
in a new manufacturing facility at Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe where
traditional metalworking skills are still used extensively during the nine
week build process. It is the very opposite of volume production car building.
Bentley customers have a world of infinite choice when commissioning their
cars. Bentley Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen
says: “No other car maker can offer such a blend of performance and refinement
in a single vehicle. The new Mulsanne is a car that evokes the Bentley
philosophy of building the best luxury grand tourers in the world.”
The
Bentley interior design team has continued to develop and evolve the luxurious
interiors for which their cars are renowned research programme to identify
the classic signature features that have defined Bentleys from the 1920s
to the present day. Armed with this invaluable resource, the Mulsanne’s
design team set itself highly challenging targets for key interior characteristics
such as material design, smell, colour harmony and handcrafting. Similar
targets were set for the operational refinement and robustness of all control
mechanisms. The result is a hand-crafted interior that fully reflects traditional
Bentley values, executed to the highest possible standards. The use of
wood and leather hides has increased significantly to create an even more
refined and luxurious cabin. The entire cabin is encased within a ‘ring
of wood’ waist rail with an unbroken panel of wood gracing the Mulsanne’s
dashboard. Inverted dial needles within the instrument cluster are evocative
of early Bentleys while the entire dashboard and console design is a subtle
reminder of the Bentley wings motif.
For
the new Mulsanne, all the major building blocks of the engine would be
comprehensively re-engineered to integrate the very latest technologies.
The pioneering use of these two technologies in combination allows the
Mulsanne’s engine management system not only to adjust the V8’s breathing
for improved engine idle quality and torque delivery, but also to close
the valves of four of the eight cylinders for maximum fuel economy when
cruising. In the new Mulsanne, the 6¾-litre V8 develops 512 PS (505
bhp/377 kW) while the massive torque (1020 Nm / 752 lb ft) is now delivered
even earlier at 1750 rev/min. These new technologies are complemented by
the new eight-speed automatic transmission which, for the first time on
a flagship Bentley, comes with steering wheel mounted paddleshift. A new
Drive Dynamics Control system, operated by a rotary switch mounted next
to the gearshift selector, can be used to choose from three standard modes
– Bentley, Sport and Comfort – offering precise calibration of suspension
and steering control systems. A fourth mode, ‘Custom’, allows the driver
to select bespoke settings via the multimedia system to ‘tune’ the Mulsanne
to a preferred driving style.