Today at The Quail, Bentley’s Mulliner customizing section shows off a brand-new top-of-the-line Bentayga. The first half of 2024 will see deliveries. It has the same 542-hp twin-turbo V-8 engine as earlier Bentaygas, but because its wheelbase is longer, it has room for rear seats that can be adjusted in 22 different ways and recline pretty far. The water left over from pressing olives is used to tan the leather, a new way of doing things. The very top of the car market seems in high demand, which has kept Bentley’s Mulliner customization business busy lately. Mulliner has returned to the core of its business by making a more expensive SUV, the Bentayga, after getting rid of the W-12 engine and the $2.1 million Batur and by creating 12 new copies of the pre-war Speed Six for the same price as the original. The EWB Mulliner, which costs $339,150, is the most expensive Bentayga ever made. It was shown for the first time today at The Quail, where all the high-end automakers meet during Monterey Car Week. With the addition of the extended-wheelbase (EWB) model for 2023, the starting price of the ultra-luxury SUV goes up to $229,625. This new top-of-the-line Mulliner is based on the long-wheelbase model and costs an extra $110K, about $60K more than the previous top model, the Bentayga Speed. It costs about the same as the coupe or convertible Mulliner versions of the Continental GT and the car Mulliner versions of the Flying Spur. EWB needs a 7.1-inch wheelbase expansion, which gives the rear passengers more legroom. The Mulliner Bentayga comes with 22-way adjustable back seats for $11,195 extra on the regular EWB Bentayga. Bentley calls them the “Airline Seat,” which sounds like a better name than we might think. The outer rear seats can recline nearly 40 degrees and have a nice leather footrest that slides out from the front seat. You can get a center seat if you need to fit five people. The chairs have monitors for temperature and humidity, which are used to decide whether to heat, cool, or do both simultaneously. They also change often to avoid getting tired. When you remove your shoes, your piggies will dance on floor mats made of 100% wool. Only the Mulliner has tri-tone leather, which comes in over 4000 ways with primary, secondary, and accent colors. And the “Tan” part of this new leather, which Bentley calls “Olive Tan,” comes from the water left over when olives are pressed. This is another step the company is taking to be more environmentally friendly. It already says on its website that it only uses leather, which can be proven to be a leftover of the animal industry. The diamond-quilted seats have stitching that matches the buyer’s interior color scheme, and the Mulliner also comes with a three-color bag for the key fob that matches the interior. The nose is shaped like a diamond, and the 22-inch wheels have weighted center caps that keep them standing straight. Like the rest of the lineup, the engine is a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 with an eight-speed automatic gearbox. It makes 542 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque. The company says that the short-wheelbase Bentayga S, which we could speed up to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, is only 0.10 seconds slower than the Mulliner. You can order a Mulliner Bentayga right now, and it will start coming to you in early 2024.
