Bentley has announced that the Mulsanne has been killed off and that the very last one has already rolled off the production line. Launched in 2010, the Mulsanne has been Bentley’s flagship saloon for a decade and has been discontinued because…well, Bentley doesn’t say actually, although it’s widely understood that the company couldn’t get the car and its mad 6.75-litre engine past modern emissions regulations.
It’s unlikely to be replaced too, with the market for super high end cars going pretty much the same way as the standard market – all about the SUVs. The Bentley Bentayga SUV instantly became the company’s best seller after its introduction in 2016, despite being just that ugly, and Bentley already has a massive and decadent four-door saloon in its portfolio in the Flying Spur, which has just hit its third generation. Not only does that do virtually the same job, but at £170,000 for a ‘basic’ one it’s a good £60-70,000 cheaper than a standard Mulsanne.
The picture you see below is of the penultimate Mulsanne made, which is going to a customer in the USA, while the very last one has a future that “remains a closely guarded secret,” according to Bentley. It’s probably not that interesting – it’ll go into storage before eventually going on display in a Bentley museum or something.
The penultimate car you see here is a Mulsanne Speed ‘6.75 Edition by Mulliner’ in rose gold over tungsten – a model so bespoke that Bentley didn’t even quote a price for it when it announced a 30-strong run earlier this year. The Speed model it’s based has a £260,000 base price though, and this particular one is no doubt furnished with all manner of high cost options.
It’s powered by a 6.75-litre V8 engine whose block dates back to the 1959 Bentley S2. It’s been revised and updated many, many times, of course, but that age explains why Bentley has finally had to kill it off. It has 537bhp (a dreadful bhp-per-litre rating, by modern standards), although also a colossal 1100Nm of torque at just 1750rpm, meaning it gets the elephantine saloon to 62mph in just 4.9 seconds.
Bentley Chairman Adrian Hallmark said: “The Mulsanne is the culmination of all that we at Bentley have learnt during our first 100 years in producing the finest luxury cars in the world. As the flagship of our model range for over a decade, the Mulsanne has firmly solidified its place in the history of Bentley as nothing less than a true icon. I am immensely proud of the hundreds of designers, engineers and craftspeople that brought the Mulsanne to life over the last ten years.”
Keyword: Farewell Bentley Mulsanne…it’s been very, very fancy