New Bentley Mulliner Batur is a £2 million titivated W12 Continental GT with 730bhp

The new Bentley Batur arrives as a run of 19 cars at £2 million each, featuring a 730bhp W12 and previewing Bentley’s future EV design language.

No one can doubt Bentley’s ability to deliver appealing cars to its customers, especially as they’ve just posted record profits despite the doom and gloom clouding the car industry.

Bently has also learnt lessons from Lamborghini as far as short-run ‘special’ cars go, taking regular road cars, giving them a new name and some fancy looks, and multiplying the price ten-fold. So say hello to the latest iteration of that money-spinner – the Bentley Mulliner Batur, sister car to the open-top Bentley Bacalar.

Underpinned by the regular Continental GT, the Batur gets a new design look that’s really a bit underwhelming, looking more like a fancy Audi than a bespoke Bentley, with the trademark twin headlights gone in favour of slitty little lights, a rounded back end, new grille and fancy wheels. Maybe it’s just us, but it seems to lack any sort of ‘Bentley-ness’.

The Batur is about pointing at the future direction of Bentley design in an EV era – which does make us think Bentley’s EVs are going to be a bit bland and more EV generic than we’d have hoped – but it’s also about celebrating the W12 engine, not long for this world as we’re forced down the EV road.

Here, the W12 comes with ‘more than’ 730bhp and 738lb/ft of torque which, although Bentley isn’t quoting any figures, will mean over 200mph and top-end EV levels of acceleration. And so it should at £2 million apiece.

Naturally, Bentley has also titivated the interior, although as the Continental GT has one of the best interiors in the world it’s about adding glitterball trinkets.

That titivation brings in 18ct gold for the drive selector, an etching of the engine’s sound wave and embroidered Batur chevrons, with ‘Low Carbon’ leather from Scotland (because it doesn’t travel far), ‘Sustainable’ tannage leather from Italy (clearly Scotland doesn’t have any) and ‘sustainable’ Dinamica too.

There’s also Natural Fibre composite as a ‘sustainable’ alternative to carbon fibre, and more ‘sustainability’ with recycled yarn carpets.

Paul Williams, Mulliner Director, said:

With Bacalar, we proved the appetite of our clients for truly bespoke and individual Bentleys. We’re building on that story with the Batur, and the fact that all 18 cars are already reserved is testament to the fact that our design team is creating cars that our clients want to buy. Batur is not only a beautiful handcrafted Bentley – it is the next member of a distinguished line of cars coachbuilt by Mulliner, which include the W.O. Bentley’s favourite car in the 8 Litre and the now truly-iconic R-Type Continental.

Whether you think the Bentley Batur is a snip at £2 million or silly money for a titivated Continental GT, you can’t have one anyway. All 18 have already been sold.