Bentley has just unveiled a new limited series two-door grand touring coupe, called the Bentley Mulliner Batur. Shown off during the Monterey Car Week, the Batur showcases a new design DNA that will guide the design of the brand’s future range of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), with the first due in 2025.
Limited to only 18 units, all examples have already been reserved, and each one will be designed collaboratively with each customer, guided by Mulliner’s in-house design team. The Batur is named after Lake Batur, a 16km2 crater lake in Bali, Indonesia.
Although the Batur previews the design of future battery electric vehicles (BEVs) by Bentley, the Batur is powered by a 6.0-litre W12 engine with “740+ hp” and 1,000 Nm, paired to an eight-speed DCT. Exhaust fumes escape the engine via a titanium sports exhaust system.
Built on Bentley’s most advanced chassis ever, the Batur is equipped with Speed-tuned air suspension, electric active anti-roll control, eLSD, four-wheel steering, and torque vectoring. Also featured are adaptive air springs with adjustable effective stiffness.
Bentley’s Chairman and Chief Executive, Adrian Hallmark said, “The Batur is a significant car for Bentley. Far more than the heir to the highly successful Bacalar, the Batur showcases the design direction that we’re taking in the future as we develop our range of BEVs. Andi Mindt and his team have reimagined the classic Bentley design cues into a stronger, bolder design that remains both elegant and graceful.
“Beneath the beautiful exterior lies the most powerful engine we’ve ever developed. Our W12 engine is easily the most successful twelve-cylinder automotive engine in history, and as it approaches its retirement to make way for future hybrids and BEVs, we want to mark its accomplishments.
Responsible for the design of the Batur is Bentley’s Director of Design, Andreas Mindt, and his team including Head of Exterior Design, Tobias Suehlmann, and Head of Interior Design, Andrew Hart-Barron.
Andreas Mindt said, “At the very front of the car, we’ve modernised the famous Bentley grille and made it lower and more upright, to give a stronger face and a more dominant stance. This upright elegance brings self-confidence with a luxury stance. The grille is flanked by a new headlight shape and design, an evolution of the design used on Bacalar and maintaining the single large headlight either side. These are matched with all-new tail-lamps at the rear, that sit either side of a deployable spoiler.
“Overall, the form is cleaner and simplified, and we rely more on curvaceous surfaces bisected in the right places to reflect light and dark and bring more muscle to the design.”
Inside, the Batur offers a two-seat interior space that is designed for ultimate personalisation and long-distance grand touring. Clients can choose from a variety of sustainable materials that include low carbon leather sourced from Scotland, sustainable tannage leather from Italy, and Dinamica (an alternative suede-like sustainable material).
Aside from previewing the future Bentley EVs, the Batur will also act as a tribute to Bentley’s famous W12 engine as the brand moves towards electrification – and what a way to do it; the 6.0-litre W12 engine in the Batur is in its most powerful and most developed iteration. Deliveries of the Batur will begin in mid-2023.
GALLERY
Keyword: Bentley Batur previews brand’s future EVs… while using a W12 engine