Bentley creates biometrically sealed safe

IN A world of facial recognition and fingerprint scanning smartphones, Bentley has unveiled a lockable storage compartment sealed with a touch.

As car makers increasingly shift towards handsfree proximity sensing fobs, locking your glovebox with a physical key is such a chore. Luckily, Bentley has you covered with its latest accessory for the Bentayga SUV, a storage compartment with a built-in fingerprint scanner.

The all-aluminium biometric storage box, with roughly enough room to fit a watch, jewellery or perhaps a gold ingot, is located in the central armrest and was designed by Bentley’s in-house coachbuilder Mulliner.

The box also features two USB ports and an auxiliary port to connect mobile devices. The electronic lock can even recognise multiple fingerprints, so the owner's partner can sneak a peek at the diamond-studded necklace you bought for their birthday.

There is also a manual failsafe, allowing the box to be unlocked with the emergency key inside the fob, so one needn’t fear losing access to the contents should the car’s battery die or your fingerprint suddenly disappear.

The Mulliner Biometric Secure Stowage, as it’s called, is an optional extra for the Bentley Bentayga, with an unspecified price. Bear in mind there's also a $300,000 Breitling clock that’s available for the Bentayga.

Mulliner, short for H.J. Mulliner and Co, has been in the luxury coachbuilding game for more than a century and proudly boasts capabilities that can tailor a car to almost any customer specification. Bentleys costing upwards of $400,000 have had custom work at the hands of Mulliner bump their price up to more than $9 million.