Production｜Tiger Sniffing Car Team

Author｜Latma Island

Pictures｜Tiger Sniff

Excluding the old-fashioned British green, sandstone white with creamy temperature, tungsten carbon gray with a combination of metal and silk, three low-saturation and low-brightness car paint colors constitute the Beijing New International Exhibition A rare visual pure land in China.

In 2020, the Bentley brand will be 101 years old. The remaining few months of performance in the Chinese market have never been so important to its annual performance: in the first half of the year, Bentley sold 4,918 vehicles worldwide, a slight increase of 5.8% year-on-year; while sales in mainland China were 1,440 vehicles, a sharp increase of 48%. In other words, almost all of Bentley’s impact in other markets around the world was found in China. Getting rid of the earlier delivery problems, Bentley has found its rhythm in this difficult year.

(Photo: bentley)

In June of this year, I once benchmarked Rolls-Royce, as the flagship of the Bentley brand, Mulsanne( Mulsanne) officially ceased production, marking Bentley’s departure from the ultra-luxury car market of more than 5 million yuan and focus on other more sporty models. At the same time, this also marks Bentley’s bid farewell to the historical legacy of the 6L V8 engine.

On the surface, it replaced the Mulsanne, which was born out of the Bentley Continental(Continental)GT four-door sedan flying(FlyingSpur). Behind the product line, what really revives the brand’s highest point is actually Mulliner, the personalized customization department of Bentley, who unveiled the opening cloth and stepped onto the table.

The Geneva Motor Show, which failed to open due to the epidemic at the beginning of the year, has a history of hundreds of years and now belongs to Bentley’s Mulliner department. It has launched a highly customized limited model based on the Continental GT, Mulliner Bacalar. The last Bentley Mulsanne to drive off the production line at the Crewe plant at the end of June was also a special 6.75 Edition produced by the Mulliner department.

(Mushang 6.75 Edition)

Under the management of the Mulliner department, at this Beijing Auto Show, Bentley brought the first important Mulliner custom exclusive configuration: 3D three-dimensional wooden panels. Yes, you read that right, the world of the rich is so boring, from Nanyang to Britain, playing wood knows no borders.

For Bentley’s target customer group, the gorgeous diamond-shaped quilted leather is not new, but the diamond-shaped three-dimensional solid wood veneer that perfectly echoes it is the first in the Bentley industry. This process or technology first appeared in the 2015 Bentley concept car EXP 10 Speed ​​6, and it took 18 months of research and development to go from concept to reality.

The three-dimensional wooden veneer on the rear door of the Flying Spur is by no means a false wood veneer, but a whole piece of cherry or walnut wood(all from sustainable wood), craftsmen use a multi-axis milling machine to manually bend and press to shape, and finally apply a layer of open-hole varnish to ensure that the original color and texture of the wood are not hidden. The error of the 3D stereoscopic modeling is only 0.1mm. When the rear door is closed, the 3D stereoscopic modeling of the door panel wood trim and the seat rear wood trim can be perfectly combined.

The product changes of top luxury car brands rely on two paths, one is the traditional and conventional internal innovation, and the other is the “user crowd creation” that many new car companies are used to today. In fact, because ultra-luxury brands have fewer customer bases and less spread of preferences and habits, their connection with the brand is easier to get closer. If you use today’s words, these century-old brands have been doing “user enterprises” for more than 100 years. It’s just that, due to the unwritten posture and arrogance of the high-end business world, they usually do not explicitly say that they “bow their heads” to their distinguished guests.

In 2015, Bentley launched the first SUV model Bentayga (Bentayga). By 2020, Bentayga will usher in a mid-term remodeling window. We Surprised to discover the newly added changes to “conform to the hearts of the people”:

  • Unconventional but a bit too eye-catching, so that the initially controversial “hollow” headlamp was replaced by a more stable family style four-circle lamp;

  • The large-area B-shaped taillights that followed Mulsanne back then were replaced by a new generation of Continental GT-style single oval taillights;

  • Follow the design style of Bentley’s previous generation, so that the circular air outlets that are now seemingly rigid are replaced with flying wings created by the new Flying Spur (With BinEchoing the car logo).

The times have changed. This time Bentley generously and even proudly stated that the improvement and R&D of Xintianyue fully listened to customers’ opinions. Back then, the headlamp design of the old Tim Yue was too “out of place” was discussed by European and American veterans, and it became the only element in the exterior design that might hinder the ordering of guests. And now, the new Tianyue has returned to the four-round headlights of the Bentley family, and the oval taillights are more sporty and more outstanding, so that the entire exterior design is balanced towards the goal of “stable front and smart rear”.

After the old flagship Mulsanne abdicated, Bentley formed the three major car series of “one run, one sedan, and one SUV”, among which the Continental GT is naturally the core brand soul. In the hearts of many “old Bentleys”, the GT coupe with extreme luxury in its power is equivalent to the Bentley brand.

The current generation of Continental GT is in its prime. After the launch of the original W12 version, Bentley brought two V8 versions with lower thresholds at the Beijing Auto Show. In fact, in addition to this, Bentley also launched the Mulliner department customized Continental GT Mulliner this year, with a more customized version with more freedom and a richer choice to meet the needs of more demanding buyers. Only this time due to the time window, the Mulliner version of the Continental GT did not come to China.

Of course, even if you don’t choose the Mulliner version with more personalization possibilities, more optional textures, and higher prices, the ordinary Continental GT can also meet most individual needs. Dozens of car paint colors, gorgeous leather stitching, and material plaques from all over the world are already custom “standard” luxury cars that don’t need to be mentioned.

On Bentley’s custom tools, you can also choose from bling-bling to dazzling diamond polished designs. You can choose the Geneva striped aluminum plaque derived from the Swiss watch movement, or even the center console. Breitling timepiece with mother-of-pearl dial. Going further, the tourbillon mechanical clock specially built by Breitling can only be owned by you if you increase your budget by $160,000.

Ultra-luxury car brand, which is far away from fireworks but also invisibleIn the affected world. Stay away from fireworks, because here you don’t see the so-called “new four modernizations” anxiety pervading the mainstream auto market; it is affected because these small luxury factories, which are actually far less famous, need to deploy their future earlier.

In addition to the well-known intelligence and electrification of passers-by, the wave of SUVs and individual sports cars has just officially swept the luxury market. Backed by the Volkswagen Group, Bentley was the first ultra-luxury brand to launch an SUV; however, the main product line GT sports car, luxury sports sedan and SUV overlapped too much, so that the arrival of Tim Yue did not lead Bentley to soar.

On the contrary, Lamborghini launched Urus easily copied the Porsche Cayenne myth of the year, and Ferrari was ready to move. Aston Martin, who is also known for GT sports cars as Bentley, launched SUV models on the one hand, and on the other, developed a mid-engine super sports car with little recklessness. Since the SUV may conflict with the comfort-oriented GT sports car, then push your basic disc to the ultimate performance supercar world.

But it is difficult for Bentley to make a similar move. It needs to use other methods to allow the sports car and SUV product lines to stretch the width of the safe zone.

(Mulliner Bacalar)

When Aston Martin and Maserati moved closer to sports and performance, Bentley’s approach was to go a step further towards luxury and respect. Mulliner, with a history of hundreds of years of body customization, was brought to the table by Bentley. At the beginning of the year, Bentley and the Mulliner department launched the Mulliner Bacalar, which is limited to 12 vehicles. Between its base car, the Continental GT, only the door handle is common. Mulliner Bacalar’s more ostentatious, more reckless, and more swaying interior and exterior design, the dazzling effect that a Bentley GT sports car can achieve to the extreme.

If the world needs extreme performance, then the world must also need extreme beauty.