Bentley Mulliner Batur is brand’s most powerful car ever

Bentley Motors has rolled out its most powerful model ever – an exclusive new two-door GT called the Bentley Mulliner Batur that also showcases the brand’s design direction for future models.

Just 18 examples of the 2023 Bentley Mulliner Batur will be produced, each priced from £1.98 million ($A3.4m). All have been spoken for.

Unveiled at the Monterey Car Week in California over the weekend, the latest model to emerge from Bentley’s Mulliner coachbuilding division is claimed to be the most powerful road car ever built by the British luxury car-maker.

Its twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre W12 pumps out an impressive 544kW and 1000Nm of torque, with the extra power coming from a new intake, upgraded intercoolers and a pair of uprated turbos.

That’s a considerable 59kW and 100Nm more than the fastest Bentley Continental GT Speed.

Bentley has yet to reveal performance figures but, combined with the same eight-speed dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel drive as the Conti GT Speed, the Batur is expected to sprint from 0-100km/h in around 3.0 seconds and top out at more than 330km/h.

Despite its powerful combustion engine, the Batur has wider relevance for future battery-powered Bentleys as it will, in the car-maker’s words, “guide the design of Bentley’s future range of electric vehicles”.

It features an expansive diamond-pattern grille that sits above an aggressively designed secondary air dam, while slimmer headlights indicate the brand is ready to move away from its traditional round oval lamps up front.

At the rear, there’s a rounder tail and an ever narrower set of rear LED tail-lights, a larger pop-up spoiler and large black lower half of the bumper that’s home for both a rear diffuser and its quad tailpipes.

There’s also smooth surfacing along the top half of the body and a sharply creased lower half of the door that incorporates a small wheel-arch vent.

Bespoke 22-inch alloy wheels are fitted and the bodywork is almost entirely finished in carbon-fibre or greener natural fibre composite.

Not a single body panel is shared with the Bentley Continental GT upon which the Batur is based, although it sits on the same Volkswagen Group MSB architecture.

It remains to be seen whether Bentley EVs will keep the Batur’s traditional long-bonnet cab-rearward design with the switch to pure-electric powertrains.

Inside, the cabin looks closely related to the current Continental GT but with even higher-grade materials. These include 3D-printed parts in 18-carat gold used for the drive mode selector and the air vent ‘organ stops’ controls.

Look closer and there’s also more decorative natural carbon-fibre and leather that’s said to be low-CO2.

There’s no claim as to how much lighter the Batur is beside the heavyweight Bentley Continental GT Speed (2273kg), but Bentley says its Mulliner creation has undergone a complete chassis retune that has involved the addition of a recalibrated electronically controlled limited-slip differential and revised rear-wheel steering.

The three-chamber air suspension, active anti-roll bars and adaptive dampers have all been tweaked.

As standard, the Batur comes with huge 410mm carbon-silicon-carbide front disc brakes that are clamped down with massive 10-piston callipers.

Speaking at the reveal, Bentley boss Adrian Hallmark said: “The Batur is a significant car for Bentley. 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.

“Andi Mindt [chief designer] and his team have reimagined the classic Bentley design cues into a stronger, bolder design that remains both elegant and graceful.”

The limited-run Batur may also signal the last chapter of Bentley’s 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12 after almost 20 years of production.

Bentley says the first Mulliner Batur cars will be delivered to customers by the middle of 2023.

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