Bentley’s Mulliner Batur coupé signals electric car design direction
Not powered by a Batur-y though
Bentley has unveiled the Mulliner Batur, a new two-door coupé built by the firm’s Mulliner coachbuilding division to showcase the future design language for the company’s electric cars.
Just 18 examples of the Batur (named after a crater lake in Indonesia) will be built, and the car is intended as a successor to Mulliner’s last coach-built special, the convertible Bacalar.
While providing a glimpse at the future forms and themes of Bentley’s electric vehicles — the first of which is due to arrive in 2025 — the Batur is most assuredly petrol-powered, with the most powerful version yet of the company’s 6-litre 12-cylinder engine under the bonnet, developing 730bhp.
“The Batur is a significant car for Bentley,” said the company boss, Adrian Hallmark, speaking at the car’s reveal in Monterey, California.
“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 (battery electric vehicles).
“Andi Mindt and his team have reimagined the classic Bentley design cues into a stronger, bolder design that remains both elegant and graceful.”
Explaining the rationale behind the design and thus Bentley’s future design language, Mindt said that he and his team had been inspired in the Bentley’s flowing forms and haunches by nature and the shape of animals at rest, and elaborated on other aspects of the Batur’s shape.
“A mark of power and prestige has always been a long bonnet,” he said.
“Our new design cues include a line that stretches from the bonnet along the whole length of the car, connecting the bonnet into the body, making the car long and lean and giving an elongated proportion to the front end.
“We call this feature the ‘endless bonnet’, and it’s the only accent highlight to the cleaner shape. Meanwhile, the visual mass of the car is moved rearwards, giving the impression that the car is sat [sic] on the rear axle which adds further depth to the haunches.
“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 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 [the] Bacalar and maintaining the single large headlight either side.
“These are matched by 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.”
Although perhaps not quite the engine’s swansong, Bentley admits that the W12 found under the Batur’s bonnet is in the twilight of its years, with emissions regulations due to kill off most of the small number of 12-cylinder engines in use by car-makers around the world by 2026 at the latest.
That said, the extra power that engineers have managed to squeeze out of the unit seen in the Batur hints that there may still be some development potential in the W12 that could make its way to more numerous production models.
Achieving 730bhp and 738lb ft of torque comes as a result of a new intake system, upgraded turbochargers, new intercoolers, a titanium exhaust system and extensive recalibration of the engine; that power is sent to the 22in wheels through an eight-speed double-clutch automatic gearbox.
The chassis in the Batur has been tuned to cope with the extra power, with adaptive three-chamber air springs meaning that when the driver adjusts the drive modes, they get a choice over the softness of the ride and how much the body rolls under cornering. The electric active anti-roll system can deliver 959lb ft of anti-roll torque as well as decoupling the wheels at either end of each axle when needs be.
Braking comes courtesy of a carbon-silicon carbide braking system that employs ten-piston calipers at the front and four-piston units at the rear.
As expected, the interior of the Batur is notably plush with vast swathes of wood and leather (though more eco-friendly materials such as the Alcantara-like Dinamica are also available) in near-endless combinations.
For the switches and knobs, there’s a choice of light, dark or titanium finishes with some of the controls even optionally available in 3D-printed 18-karat gold.
Adorning the dashboard is an artistic laser etching of a sound wave design, based on the sonic signature of the W12 engine.
Pricing for the Bentley Mulliner Batur starts from £1.65m, though even if you’ve got that money burning a hole in your pocket, all 18 examples have already been sold.
First deliveries are expected in mid-2023.
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