Bentley has unveiled the Mulsanne, the company’s all-new flagship grand tourer, at the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance (an annual classic car festival) in Monterey, California.
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The Mulsanne replaces the Arnage.
Volkswagen’s British-based luxury brand says the new model is inspired by the company founder W.O. Bentley’s 1930 ‘8-litre’.
Bentley says the new Mulsanne is a ‘thoroughly modern statement of luxury driving and grand touring’.
Conceived, styled and engineered entirely at Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe, England, the Mulsanne is built on a completely new and unique platform and goes into production next year in a 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 Chief Executive of Bentley Motors, said: “The challenge we set our engineers was to create a new grand 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 Bentley 8-litre displayed alongside the Mulsanne in California was first shown at the 1930 London Motor Show. It was the second-built and was W.O. Bentley’s company car for two years.
“The 8-litre’s breathtaking performance and quality was perhaps the finest example of a ‘pure’ grand Bentley. Every mechanical detail carried W.O. Bentley’s unique stamp and it was the clearest demonstration of a car built without compromise,” commented Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn, Member of the Board Engineering.
“The Mulsanne has been designed with exactly the same guiding principles, so it is entirely fitting that these Bentleys from different eras share the same stage.”
The Bentley Mulsanne will go on sale from mid-2010 and is expected to be priced at around GBP200,000 with annual production of around 700.
The Mulsanne will also be displayed at the forthcoming IAA Frankfurt Motor Show.
