BESPOKE BEAUTY OF BENTLEY

Bentley Mulliner Bacalar brings back bespoke coachbuilding

TTHE MENLO

Named after Menlo Park in Palo Alto, California, where many great entrepreneurs gather at leading technology companies, THE MENLO embraces that risk-taking attitude with its bold and unmistakable Cobalt coat, contrasting Cyber Yellow piping and chic Piano Black veneer.

The car is named after auna Bacalar in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, a lake renowned for its awe-inspiring natural beauty. This continues Bentley’s strategy of naming cars after remarkable landmarks, which started with Bentayga in 2015. The Bacalar has been brought to life by Bentley Mulliner, reviving its specialty in providing coach-built cars to discerning automotive enthusiasts.

The Bacalar is based off design DNA of the beautifully sculpted and award-winning he rarest two-door Bentley of the modern era made its reveal earlier this year at the home of Bentley in Crewe, England. The all-new Bentley Mulliner Bacalar is the definitive, ultimate expression of two-door, open-air luxury, and this Grand Tourer marks a return to coachbuilding by Bentley Mulliner, the oldest coachbuilder in the world.

The Bentley Mulliner Bacalar will only be the second two-seat Bentley since 1930. There are only 12 examples of this striking, limited edition model being created, which guarantees owners rarity and exclusivity, in addition to supreme luxury and breathtaking performance. Each model will be handcrafted in Bentley Mulliner’s workshop in Crewe.

Bentley revealed six example specifications also. The six, named: Clerkenwell, Menlo, Fulton, Greenwich, Brickell and Randwick showcase the myriad of personalities that make up Bentley Mulliner’s diverse clientele base and reflect the level of personalisation and attention to detail that only a coachbuilder with such a history and heritage like Bentley is able to do. EXP 100 GT. The ‘roofless’ Barchetta design, with its all-new and highly muscular coachwork is able to embrace a myriad of options and materials seamlessly. Through customer specification, collectors can get their hands-on new materials, such as rare Riverwood veneer, British wool, Dark Bronze and Midnight Black Titanium.

The cabin of the Bacalar is where Bentley has created a unique cockpit unlike anything else. The architecture of the Bacalar involves a ‘wraparound’ cockpit design that not only blends the interior and exterior together, but also emphasises its two-seater character. The wraparound design starts off with sharp angles centred from the console into the dashboard, before curving gently into the door panels. These then continue towards a semienclosed luggage compartment behind the seats, enveloping them to create a true two-seater cabin.

The heart of the Bacalar cockpit is its dashboard, an advanced, fully digital and driver focused instrument panel. It also contains Bentley’s famous Rotating Display featuring rare Riverwood veneer, which rotates when the engine is started to reveal the high-resolution, customer-configurable touchscreen. If the personalisation through Bentley Mulliner’s coachbuilding isn’t enough to distinguish one Bacalar from another, the dashboard’s unique clock face with individual one-of-12 badging would definitely help.

“In Bacalar, we have created a fully bespoke Bentley, oriented towards a twoseat open top experience, and carrying a number of the forward-thinking elements of future luxury, first heralded in our EXP 100 GT as part of our Centenary celebrations last year,” said Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and Chief Executive of Bentley Motors. “The Bacalar is a rare and remarkable Bentley, and while clearly defined, will be an extraordinary and collaborative experience for just 12 discerning people who will now co-create, collect, drive and treasure one of 12 being built.”