Design Detail: Bentley Mulsanne

Cutting a new shape from an old premise.

By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG BentleyMotors.com

BENTLEY’S Mulsanne is growing on me.

While I, along with a quizzical handful of Bentley aficionados, await with baited breath to see what (doubtless plush) interior Crewe has crafted for its latest grand chariot, I’ve been pouring over the exterior shots of this handsome sedan (saloon, if we’re British).

The Mulsanne picks up where the Arnage left off by maintaining the earlier car’s préstance but they’ve adopted cues from a few other uber sedans.

Of course, there’s Rolls-Royce in those lines.  The tall, cliff-face front fenders belong to both marques as they recall the Silver Shadow / T-Series from the 60s and 70s.

And there’s Audi, too. The way the rear door’s line ignores the wheel well’s curvature in its diagonal straight-shot comes direct from a new-wave of German design theory that we’ve seen in every Audi sedan in the past decade (thought the A8 comes first to mind, somehow).

Finally, there’s the trunk (or boot, if you prefer).

The C-pillar descends softly into a high deck-lid. This is another classic Rolls/Bentley feature, albeit lifted for aerodynamics. It’s very modern to the point of being almost generic in its Euro-slickness. There’s practically no definition to the bumper from the rear three quarter profile.

In this respect, it takes what the (Maybach influenced) S-Class and CL-Class have achieved and pushed the envelope further.

Kudos to the ordinarily stolid British manufacturer carrying automotive design theory forward (in stead of backwards). Let’s just see if wears with time. If the short spell since the Mulsanne’s Pebble Beach debut are anything to judge by, chances are it’ll grow on me.