The British car maker has released detailed specifications with the 2010 Bentley Mulsanne as the luxury saloon is exhibited at this year’s Geneva Motor Show.
Powering the 2010 Bentley Mulsane is a re-engineered V8 that produces 505 BHP (377 kW) and 1020 Nm (752 lb-ft) of torque @ 1750 rpm and responsible for sending all the juice the wheels is a newly developed paddle shifted 8-speed automatic transmission.
Also a new chassis has been fitted along with a new air suspension and as far as efficiency the 2010 Bentley Mulsane now releases 15 % less CO2 into the atmosphere.
Thanks to the new Drive Dynamics Control system the 2010 Bentley Mulsane can be driven in four different modes, which are: Bentley, Sport, Comfort and Custom.
Bentley press release :
“The new Mulsanne is a thoroughly modern flagship that
captures the essence of the Bentley marque. It is elegant yet
distinctly sporting in character, delivering effortless performance
while within its sumptuous cabin, advanced technology sits discreetly
with handcrafted luxury.” Bentley Motors Chairman and Chief Executive, Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen
While paying homage to past Bentley greats, the brief for the new
Mulsanne’s design and engineering teams was to create a Bentley that
represents the pinnacle of British luxury motoring.
The new Mulsanne, designed and engineered at Crewe from the
ground-up, reaffirms the marque’s intent to create a new flagship
Bentley with refined performance, unparalleled levels of interior
luxury and coach building skills to the fore.
The return of the Mulsanne name underlines Bentley’s sporting
heritage and passion for power and speed. Nothing reflects that prowess
better than the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours race. Bentley has enjoyed
success on six occasions at Le Mans, where its powerful and reliable
race cars have thundered down the long straight into the famous
Mulsanne corner, from which the new model takes its name.
A pure expression of Bentley design
The design of the new Mulsanne is a unique fusion of sportiness,
coachbuilt elegance and solidity. Echoing the Bentley S -Type of the
1950s, the Mulsanne features a bold frontal design dominated by the
traditional Bentley matrix grille and highly prominent, classic round
inner headlamps with chrome surrounds, flanked by two, smaller outboard
lamp clusters, all featuring the latest in lighting technology. The
iconic ‘Flying B’ retractable radiator mascot is available as an option.
The long bonnet, short front overhang and long rear overhang help to
convey a sense of power and movement, reinforced by muscular haunches
and sharply sculptured lines which flow gracefully from the front wings
to the rear. Uniquely designed 20-inch (and optional 21-inch) wheels
reinforce the Mulsanne’s powerful, sporting stance.
Design Director Dirk van Braeckel explains the inspiration behind the Mulsanne’s distinctive appearance:
“The opportunity to design a new flagship Bentley is
something afforded to very few designers. The team set out to create a
sculpted form that blended classic Bentley heritage cues with modern
lines.”
The body is produced in a new manufacturing facility at Bentley’s
headquarters in Crewe where traditional metalworking skills, developed
over six decades, are still used extensively during the nine-week build
process. It is the very opposite of volume-production car-building… but
the very epitome of Bentley.
The rear screen, for example is fully enveloped by the coachwork.
This provides a flowing, flawless line to the rear of the car,
complementing the exquisitely formed D-pillars – whose complex curves
can only be created by skilled coach-builders. The complex form of the
aluminium front wings, impossible to achieve with normal pressing
techniques, is created using superforming, a technology usually
reserved for the aerospace industry. This also makes the wings lighter,
stiffer and provides superb surface definition. New construction
techniques meant the designers could also incorporate details such as
the ‘floating’ elliptical LED tail lights, which uniquely echo the
shape of the exhaust tailpipes.
To accentuate the beauty of the bodywork, the Mulsanne features
‘brightware’ exclusively in polished stainless steel, including sill
treadplates and matrix grilles. Bentley is the only manufacturer in the
world to do this.
The door handles incorporate the traditional Bentley ‘knurling’ to
their inboard surface for enhanced grip, reflecting the company’s
typical attention to detail, while .the sporting character of the
Mulsanne is reinforced by front wing vents and wide oval tailpipe
finishers.
Bentley customers have a world of infinite choice when commissioning
their cars. There are over 100 paint colours in the range that include
everything from unusual heritage colours, special satin and pearlescent
finishes and duo-tone combinations. But the choice does not end there.
Through the bespoke world of Bentley Mulliner, unique colours can
exactly match a customer’s vision and taste.
Sumptuous interior meets advanced technology
The latest in-car technologies are discreetly placed within the
Mulsanne’s sumptuous interior. A multimedia system with 60GB hard disc
drives satellite navigation, audio/video, personal data, telephone and
Bluetooth® connectivity. The upper dashboard houses an
8-inch multimedia screen, positioned unobtrusively behind an
electrically operated veneered door, while below sits a stylish,
leather-lined media player stowage drawer with connectors for iPod,
USB, Mini USB and 3.5mm aux.
A state-of-the-art 14-speaker audio system with Digital Signal
Processing (DSP) and 6-CD autochanger is provided as standard while the
Naim for Bentley premium audio system may be specified as an option.
This forging of two British luxury brands provides customers with the
world’s most powerful production in-car amplifier with 2200 Watts,
eight dedicated DSP modes and 20 custom-made speakers, delivering an
unparalleled sound quality.
A personalised keyless entry system allows multiple pre-programmed
configurations and automatically sets radio stations, phone book, seat
(including ventilation and massage modes, both front and rear),
steering column and seatbelt settings and even the electrically
operated rear-seat blinds for side and rear windows. The keyless system
operates with the chrome door handles which incorporate touch points to
initiate communication with the key for verification and entry. The
Mulsanne also features keyless start, having a stop/start button on the
centre console.
The Bentley interior design team has continued to develop and evolve
the luxurious interiors for which their cars are renowned, based on a
large-scale, research programme to identify the classic signature
features that have defined Bentleys from the 1920s to the present day.
Armed with this invaluable resource, the Mulsanne’s design team set
itself highly challenging targets for key interior characteristics such
as material design, smell, colour harmony and handcrafting. Similar
targets were set for the operational refinement and robustness of all
control mechanisms. The result is a hand-crafted interior that fully
reflects traditional Bentley values, executed to the highest possible
standards.
As Head of Interior Design, Robin Page says:
“Over 170 hours – almost half the entire build process –
goes into crafting the interior of the new Mulsanne. At Crewe,
Bentley’s way of working is the opposite of mass production – we start
where others stop.”
The use of wood and leather hides has increased significantly to
create an even more refined and luxurious cabin. While classic design
features such as bulls-eye air vents (now also fitted in the rear
compartment), high-quality mirror-matched wood veneers, leather hides
and hand-finished stainless steel are retained, they are mixed with new
touches such as beautiful ‘glass’ switches.
The entire cabin is encased within a ‘ring of wood’ waistrail with
an unbroken panel of wood gracing the Mulsanne’s dashboard. Inverted
dial needles within the instrument cluster are evocative of early
Bentleys while the entire dashboard and console design is a subtle
reminder of the Bentley wings motif.
Customers may select from an extensive range of premium quality
veneers, unbleached for a natural appearance, and two marquetry
options: picture frame and contemporary crossbanding. True to the
Bentley ethos, customers may also select from a virtually unlimited
palette of leather hides, including 24 ‘standard’ colours, of which
three are new for Bentley. This unrivalled choice of veneers, leather
hides and paint colours ensures that the needs of all customers can be
matched perfectly.
Following detailed customer feedback, a traditional tanning process
has been re-instated to match the rich, worn leather smell that is so
evocative of vintage Bentleys. Only a very few hide suppliers worldwide
have the capability to do this.
The carpet of the Mulsanne is unique to Bentley, its increased fibre
depth, density and feel enhancing cabin quality. It is available in a
range of colours to complement each individual hide. Pure wool, deep
pile Wilton-weave over mats can add a further touch of comfort and
luxury.
These exquisite materials are fashioned by craftsmen and women with
up to 40 years’ experience. Each steering wheel, for example, can take
15 hours to hand-stitch while stainless steel brightware gleams so
perfectly thanks to an intensive 10-hour finishing process. A wood
veneer takes five weeks to turn from a rough root ball into a full set
of mirror-matched, fine-polished leaves.
Re-engineered V8 engine and new chassis: power, refinement and efficiency
The Bentley powertrain engineers were set three objectives for the Mulsanne:
1) To produce the effortless torque from extremely low revs that customers expect of a grand Bentley
2) To maintain the highest levels of refinement
3) To satisfy strict current and future environmental standards through improved engine efficiency
While other powertrain configurations were considered early on in
the project, it soon became clear that these targets could best be
achieved with a totally revised version of the 6¾-litre V8 engine – the
very configuration that had been used so successfully in the past.
However for the new Mulsanne, all the major building blocks of the
engine would be comprehensively re-engineered to integrate the very
latest technologies.
Dr Ulrich Eichhorn, Bentley Motors’ Director of Engineering, explains the reasons behind the Mulsanne’s V8:
“Using our V8 guaranteed the immense power at low revs and
unstressed performance that are the hallmarks of a flagship Bentley.
But we also set our engineers the challenge of maintaining high levels
of refinement at any speed and, equally important, improving
efficiency.”
To achieve a significant reduction in fuel consumption and CO2.
emissions, the Mulsanne V8 sees the introduction of two new control
systems: cam phasing and, a first for the ultra-luxury sector, variable
displacement.
The pioneering use of these two technologies in combination allows
the Mulsanne’s engine management system not only to adjust the V8’s
breathing for improved engine idle quality and torque delivery, but
also to close the valves of four of the eight cylinders for maximum
fuel economy when cruising.
New lightweight componentry including pistons, connecting rods and
forged crankshaft reduce reciprocating mass and internal friction for
improved engine response.
In the new Mulsanne, the 6¾-litre V8 develops 512 PS (505 bhp/377
kW) while the massive torque (1020 Nm / 752 lb ft) is now delivered
even earlier at 1750 rev/min. This dramatic improvement in torque
delivery from just above idle and right across the rev range ensures
that with a mere tap of the accelerator the driver is immediately
rewarded with that characteristic deep, muffled V8 burble and
phenomenal acceleration.
These new technologies are complemented by the new eight-speed
automatic transmission which, for the first time on a flagship Bentley,
comes with steering-wheel mounted paddleshift.
Overall, CO2 emissions and fuel consumption are reduced by more than 15 percent, in line with Bentley’s environmental commitment.
Prodigious power and torque are complemented by an all-new chassis,
unique to the new Mulsanne. Both lighter and stiffer than previous
flagship Bentleys, the new chassis benefits both ride and handling.
A new Drive Dynamics Control system, operated by a rotary switch
mounted next to the gearshift selector, can be used to choose from
three standard modes – Bentley, Sport and Comfort – offering precise
calibration of suspension and steering control systems.
A fourth mode, ‘Custom’, allows the driver to select bespoke
settings via the multimedia system to ‘tune’ the Mulsanne to a
preferred driving style.
A new air suspension system with Continuous Damping Control (CDC)
creates an even more refined and comfortable ride at lower speeds, yet
can reduce the Mulsanne’s ride height automatically at high speeds to
reduce lift and improve aerodynamic stability. With 20-inch alloy
wheels and 265/45 ZR 20 tyres as standard, dynamic handling is assured.
Customers may also opt for 21-inch wheels, available in two styles,
fitted with 265/40 ZR 21 tyres.
Summary
While the all-new Bentley Mulsanne pays respect to the past, it is a
thoroughly modern luxury car that offers the world’s most exclusive
driving experience – a unique fusion of power, refinement and elegance.
Bentley Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Dr. Franz-Josef Paefgen says:
“No other car maker can offer such a blend of performance and
refinement in a single vehicle. The new Mulsanne is a car that evokes
the Bentley philosophy of building the best luxury grand tourers in the
world.”
