Bentley’s world-famous coach-builder ups the exclusivity ante with jaw-dropping speedster
by Kirby Garlitos, onAdd Bentley to the growing list of automakers that have taken the bold step of introducing a roofless speedster in their vehicle portfolio. The British automaker took to the Interwebs to introduce the Mulliner Bacalar, a $2-million open-top sports car that was named after a lake in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, features paint made using rice husk ash, and interior trim that includes wood accents taken from trees that fell way before Jesus was born. The Mulliner Bacalar is a showstopper in every sense of the word. It looks like one. It’s powered like one. Most importantly, it costs like one.
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2021 Bentley Mulliner Bacalar
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Year:2021
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Model:Bacalar
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The Bentley Mulliner Bacalar comes to us by way of Bentley Mulliner. It’s billed as the “rarest two-door Bentley of the modern era,” so that, in itself, adds a layer of prestige and exclusivity that no other model wearing the “Flying B” badge can claim.
The Bacalar is all that and more.
Its stunning Barchetta styling doesn’t come with any semblance of a roof. It doesn’t even have a removable cloth top so if Mother Nature throws a fit and drops a bucket of rain on the streets, the Bacalar has nowhere to go but inside the garage.
Speaking of Mother Nature, the Bacalar has close ties to her courtesy of an interior wood trim that’s made from trees that have been preserved for more than 5,000 years. It’s hard to imagine Bentley having access to trees that have been aged for five millennia in wet soil, but this is Bentley Mulliner we’re talking about. Nothing is too ridiculous for the world’s oldest coachbuilder.
The Bacalar is more than just its stunning looks. It’s also powered by a 6.0-liter twin-turbo W-12 engine that produces a pulse-pounding 650 horsepower and 667 pound-feet of torque.
An eight-speed, dual-clutch automatic transmission channels all that power to all four wheels — those 22-inch wheels look spicy, too — helping the Bacalar accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in just 3.5 seconds before peaking at a top speed of 200 mph. As you might expect, the Bentley Mulliner-built masterpiece is as exclusive as it gets.
Only 12 units will be made with each model priced at a whopping £1.5 million. That’s almost $2 million based on current exchange rates. I’d tell you that the Bacalar is worth the amount Bentley Mulliner is asking for, but all 12 units are already spoken for. That’s good for the lucky ones who scored one and tough sledding for the rest of us.
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