The first member of the new Collections portfolio introduced by Bentley Mulliner – the Continental GT Mulliner Convertible, will make its global debut at St. Tropez, the jetset town in the south of France. With this new variant of the Continental GT family, Bentley aims to raise the bar further where luxury convertibles are concerned.
The new Continental GT Mulliner Convertible has been created to appeal to those customers wanting an even greater focus on beautiful details. Taking pride of position between the cut-crystal inspired, precision-made headlamps, Bentley Mulliner introduces a bold new Double Diamond front grille, which is further complemented by bespoke Mulliner-branded side vents that continue the unique silver-on-black diamond theme.
Diamond-in-Diamond interior
The new Double Diamond design was inspired by Bentley’s exclusive Diamond-in-Diamond interior quilting design concept, which adorns all four seats, the door casings, rear quarters and now for the first time furnishes the tonneau cover.
The Diamond-in-Diamond interior quilting was tailored to include contrast stitching in two complementary colours to accentuate the thread against the quilting. It takes almost 400,000 stitches to deliver this quilting across the cabin of the car, with each diamond containing exactly 712 individual stitches. Each one is precisely aligned to point to the centre of the diamond it creates. Developing the embroidery process to deliver this process alone took 18 months.
Grand Black walnut veneer is standard, while a new extensive range of 88 different piano-finished wood veneers is available. Customers can therefore specify a contemporary, colourised veneer finish that can be matched to the interior or exterior of the car.
Burr walnut veneer is hand-sanded and polished to produce a perfectly smooth finish before painting to match the colour of the customer’s choice. Once dry, the veneer is polished to achieve a mirror-like finish. For the new Continental GT Mulliner Convertible, eye-catching chrome details are overlaid into the piano veneer, including a Convertible silhouette in the passenger fascia and a B-motif in the door waistrails.
Handcrafted interior
The handcrafted Continental GT Convertible interior offers 8 custom-made 3-colour combinations. A new Mulliner-designed colour split defines the 8 colour ways, including a third accent colour to the interior in the form of a distinctive design line. The hand-stitched hides are embellished with unique Mulliner-branded embroidery.
An exquisitely tactile Diamond Milled Technical finish has been applied to the centre console, through Bentley’s first use of a multi-machined panel process, extending the longest-standing partnership between a watch brand and an automotive manufacturer. The centre console houses a new and exclusive Breitling for Mulliner clock with a new brushed metallic face and bejewelled hour marks.
The clock bezel and air vent surrounds are finished in chrome to complete the stunning interior jewellery. The ornate and luxurious design of the Breitling for Mulliner clock face is also applied to the Driver Display Kombi, with the precision-rendered gauges of the LED-display driver’s instrument panel using the same brushed finished and Mulliner branding, linking the analogue and digital harmoniously.
Mood lighting consisting of 7 different themes are uplifted by illuminated Mulliner tread plates and LED welcome lamps that project the famous Bentley wings to the ground from the door mirrors.
For entertainment, the Continental GT Mulliner Convertible is available with the top of the range Naim for Bentley audio system. The setup features 18 speakers and 2 Active Bass transducers driven by a 2,200‑watt, 20-channel amplifier and 8 DSP sound modes with Active Bass.
V8 or W12, sir?
The powerplants available are Bentley’s V8 and W12 powertrains. When equipped with Bentley’s 6.0-litre, twin-turbocharged W12, acceleration from 0 – 100 km/h is claimed to be within 3.8 seconds, with a hairstyle-reshaping top speed capability of 333 km/h. The new-generation 4.0-litre, twin‑turbocharged V8 unit can also reach over 300 km/h (318 km/h is claimed) and go from standstill to 100 km/h within 4.1 seconds.
