by Wallace Wyss –
While design of an economy car is critical to its success, I think at the other end of the scale, it’s much more entertaining. When you’re talking say $2,000,000 per car, that can give a designer a lot of latitude in which way you can go.
So I like Bentley’s new design director Andreas Mindt, who joined Bentley in 2021 from the VW group and is said to be the main man behind the design of the Audi E-tron.
With this new limited edition coupe, the Batur, he looked at all the Bentleys from past decades and then chose the best themes to unite in one car. Considering Bentley may go electric in a generation or two, he sure went big on the grille which won’t be needed, except for identity. But as he explained to some scribes, he feels the grille and even the long hood, are what people expect from Bentley. This is a bit of a backhanded slap toward Tesla’s chief designer who, after a false start, left off the grille on the Model S, an all electric. Methinks the chrome grille surround on this new Bentley still needs to be continued on the sides of the grille cavity (surround, get it?)–the Bentley and Rolls grilles are sacred. Can you just throw away part of them?
The new design boss added more side sculpting, so much so it’s kind of Camaro-ish, indicating an acknowledgement that American muscle cars now personify muscular shapes but are still refined enough to be on a car 25 times as much as a 2023 Camaro. He also changed the headlights. I’ll admit the new ones don’t remind me of any Bentley in the past, and seem generic. But he had to get out of the trap of new designs having to use the same old headlights.
Only 18 will be made and the price tag will be around $1.8 million dollars. The auto industry may be on the Eve of Total Electrification but I have to hand it to Bentley for going for a W12 in this car, not only a 12-cylinder but the most powerful one in Bentley history, with 738 lb.ft. (1,000 Nm) of torque and 729 HP (740 PS).
Good as gold – Bentley went with the novel disappearing gauges on the dash they used previously but the materials used are upgraded. The interior has metal accents in black anodized aluminum and satin titanium. And, tempting the Rolex bandits, the engine start button is surrounded by 18k gold.
In sum, I’m embarrassed I probably saw this at Pebble Beach and didn’t notice it was a different model–it only took me 6 months more to figure that out. But I like his design philosophy–he goes where Bentley needs to go.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR Wallace Wyss (rhymes with reese) is a fine artist specializing in commissions from exotic car owners. He has done guest lecturing at the Art Center College of Design.
Photos compliments of Bentley.
This doesn’t really look like a $2 million car to me.