Bentley Mulsanne In The Company’s 91st Year.

by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Bentley Motors ::: Bentley Mulsanne 2010/2011

BENTLEY is 90 and 1/2 years old.

In tandem with its 90th year, at 2009′s Pebble Beach, Bentley unveiled the Rolls-Royce Phantom fighting Mulsanne (pronounced “MUL-SAHN”) a from-the-ground-up new saloon that launches the marque headlong into the new millenium with plenty of the last century’s classic folly.

The scope of the Mulsanne, like its esteemed rival, is monumental.

Two-hundred and nineteen inches stem to stern. Fifty nine inches tall.

Twin-Turbo’d V8 produces 505 bhp @ 4200 rpm, 752 torques @ 1750 rpm (!) which is power channeled through a ZF 8 speed cog swapper which in turn pushes the 5700 pound chariot to 60 mph in just 5.1 seconds and then beyond 180 mph when the road, weather, and law permits (which of course, it never does).

Phew! What a car.

The Mulsanne début coincides with the 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost, a car very much slotted to be more Rolls-Royce’s everyday driver, compared to the larger-than-life Phantom.

Whether potential owners are doing much cross-shopping between the two different echelons – and whether the Mulsanne will sap some sales from the Continental Flying Spur – the VW Phaeton based four-door saloon remains to be seen.

All told, for an exclusive marque approaching its 91st year; having lived past the Great Depression and weathering the Great Recession thus far, the Mulsanne represents a bully effort.