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Bentley wants to get into the coachbuilding business

There was a time when a customer would buy a chassis from an automaker like Bentley and then take it to a coachbuilder to have whatever bodywork they wanted put on it. The practice was particularly prevalent in Bentley's earlier days, but the industry has progressed in such a way - with tighter regulations and unibody construction - that such a practice is no longer feasible. But Bentley wants to get back into that business.
Speaking to UK trade publications recently, Bentley sales chief Kevin Rose indicated that the company is looking into setting up a special division within itself to meet the demands of extremely wealthy customers who want to commission their own coachbuilt custom creations. It's an emerging trend that's seen Ferrari Special Projects build one-offs like the F12 TRS and SP12 EC and McLaren Special Operations the outlandish X-1, and Bentley wants to get in on the action.
It wouldn't be the first even to rebody a contemporary Bentley in recent years. Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera offers the Flying Star (pictured above) that turns the Continental GT into a shooting brake, and Dany Bahar's new coachbuilding outfit Ares plans to do the same. By bringing it in-house, however, Bentley would be able to pick the chassis up off the assembly line at the right time and provide the necessary support and factory backing.

2015 Bentley Continental GT3-R First Drive [w/video]

Racecars break. F1, NASCAR, IndyCar, GT3 – you name it – every go-fast machine built for the track is living on borrowed time. So it wasn't a complete surprise when, after traveling halfway around the world to drive Bentley's Continental GT3 racecar, the darn thing unceremoniously blew its rear differential on someone else's hot lap. While mentally recalibrating to the idea that my only takeaway from the three day commitment might be frequent flier miles, I realized an alternate vehicle on hand could make the trip worthwhile: the roadgoing, not-so-evil twin to the all-out race machine, the 2015 Bentley Continental GT3-R. You can hardly blame Bentley for the failure to proceed. The Flying B has been performing swimmingly well in the Blancpain Endurance Series, scoring three wins in its debut season and racking up a respectable 2015 so far. The dropped, spoilered, and severely trimmed-down GT3 racer reflects a ruthless abandon of all things luxurious and civilized. Over 50 ECUs were ditched from the road car; the doors alone, which typically weigh a lofty 125 pounds apiece, have been trimmed down to a wispy 15. Yes, the race version is a fearsome, sexy beast – and yes, this was quickly proving irrelevant because that drive was simply not meant to be.The Next Best Thing It's hard to call a $339,725 exotic a consolation prize. Climbing into the roadgoing GT3-R reveals a dramatic departure from the standard issue Conti: Not only is the color scheme unexpected (acid green on black and grey), so is the choice of materials (carbon fiber, Alcantara, not an inch of wood veneer in sight). Some pesky legacy remnants remain (antiquated navigation system, some weirdly pedestrian VW-sourced buttons and switches), but there's also a smattering of sweet details (those famous organ stop air vents, the green center indicator on the steering wheel, the pleasantly gripped Alcantara shifter). In all, 300 examples are being built, 99 of which are destined for the US. Unlike the somewhat sonorous GT V8 S upon which it's based, the GT3-R's titanium exhaust enables an even more exuberant, unapologetic, voluminous roar. Those exhaust gases are summoned from the 592-horsepower, 553-pound-foot, twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8, which gains 71 hp and 51 lb-ft over the V8 S model it's based on.

Bentley Batur is the next Mulliner creation after the Bacalar

Bentley's Mulliner personalization division launched the Balacar Speedster in 2020 — named after Laguna Bacalar in Mexico's Quintana Roo state — and sold the limited run of 12 examples almost immediately at about $2 million per. With just four Bacalars remaining to be delivered to customers, and since the first rule of having a hit is having a follow-up ready, it's no wonder that Mulliner will introduce its next small-batch, bespoke car in 10 days: At 8 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday, August 20, during Monterey Car Week, the Crewe automaker will unveil the Batur. Our invitation to exhilaration. This is where finely-honed bespoke craftsmanship and next-generation design meet. The #Bentley #Mulliner #Batur. 04:00 BST, 21.08.2022 pic.twitter.com/g0kV5K2ffJ — Bentley Motors (@BentleyMotors) August 9, 2022 We know a couple of things about the Batur. It's not clear what vehicle the model is based on, but we're told it will be a "hand-built grand touring Bentley." We're going to guess this means the Flying Spur chassis gets the nod, because the next thing we know about the Batur is it "showcases themes and forms that will define BentleyÂ’s future range of Battery Electric Vehicles." Bentley's first EV is anticipated to be a high-riding sedan sitting on Volkswagen's SSP battery-electric platform, the even more luxurious follow-up to the Audi Artemis electric sedan that will introduce upscale versions of the SSP architecture. The short video shows a very Bentley diamond grille laid in with burnt orange accents.    The last thing we know about the Batur is that it's named after another body of water, this time Lake Batur in Kintamani, on the island of Bali in Indonesia. There looks to be quite a span between the Batur's EV-forward design and the first Bentley EV. A report out of Germany in July said the VW Group continues to struggle with software for the swarm of battery-electric product the brand wants by 2030, pushing launches back potentially by years — issues that cost former VW Group CEO Herbert Diess his job. Audi's retail version of the Grandsphere concept might not show until 2027 instead of 2024, and the first Bentley EV that was due in 2025 might face a similar delay.