All-new big Bentley revealed

Bentley's Arnage-replacing Mulsanne on Sunday made its world debut at the Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance in Monterey, California -- but the new flagship limo doesn't go on sale internationally until mid-2010.

Boosting its credentials, the Mulsanne is underpinned by an all-new platform, while the outgoing Arnage's venerable 6.75-litre V8 makes way for an all-new engine -- albeit with the same configuration and cubic capacity.

"The carryover parts (from the Arnage) fit in a briefcase," Bentley Middle East boss Chris Buxton told this correspondent, adding that the V8 was newly developed -- in lieu of using the company's existing twin-turbo 6.0-litre W12 as "the high levels of torque required for the car can only be provided by a V8".

Expounding on the car's stately styling, Buxton says, "The Mulsanne keeps the Bentley DNA, but it's quite contemporary."

Taller, wider and longer than the Arnage, Buxton says the Mulsanne "is the purest form of Bentley design", with a waistline and shoulder line similar to the S2 (built from 1959 to '62).

The Mulsanne is inspired by the company founder W.O. Bentley's crowning achievement in 1930 -- the 8-litre.  And it was W.O.'s own carefully preserved company car that shared the podium with the new Mulsanne in Pebble Beach.

This 8-litre was the last big Bentley designed, engineered and built from the ground up by Bentley engineers -- until now. Nearly 80 years later, the new (albeit retro-laced) Mulsanne is billed as a thoroughly modern statement of luxury driving and grand touring.

Conceived, styled and engineered entirely at Bentley's headquarters in Crewe, England, the Mulsanne, with its completely new platform, goes into production next year in a brand-new manufacturing facility within the Crewe factory. 

Introducing the Bentley Mulsanne at Pebble Beach, where Bentley was the featured marque, Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen, chairman and CEO of Bentley Motors, said: "The challenge we set our engineers was to create a grand new Bentley that would stand as the pinnacle of British luxury motoring, offering the world's most exclusive driving experience.

"They have responded to this challenge with real passion and the result is a luxury grand tourer that sets new standards in terms of comfort, effortless performance and hand-crafted refinement -- the very qualities for which Bentley is renowned."

The return of the Mulsanne name (which stems from the Le Mans circuit's Mulsanne Straight) is intended to underline the company's racing pedigree, best reflected by the Le Mans 24-hour enduro, where Bentley has prevailed six times.