Bentley Mulliner variants could be followed by broader Supersports range

Bentley has decided that one of its oldest sub brands hasn’t had quite enough exposure in its 400-year history and will progressively roll out a Mulliner variant of each model starting with the Bentayga Mulliner that debuted at the Geneva motor show.

The next model to gain the Mulliner moniker will be the second-generation Continental GT at a point after the new version launches in 2018, but if the strategy of applying heritage brands to new models is a success, the British car maker could pull the same stunt with Supersports variants.

Speaking at the Australian Grand Prix, Bentley Mulliner Head of Technical Operations Uday Senapati confirmed to Wheels that Mulliner variants would spread to all model lines.

“We’ve decided to go with a new strategy to have a Mulliner line of cars on all the Bentley car lines,” he said. “We launched the Bentayga Mulliner two weeks ago at Geneva, which is now the pinnacle of the Bentayga car line.

“In future, what you can expect is a GT Mulliner, a GT Convertible Mulliner, a Flying Spur Mulliner and so on.”

After an eight-year hiatus, Bentley has resurrected the Supersports name for a more potent version of the Continental GT (below) to farewell the current-generation model, but Senapati said it was possible that the name could be applied to the rest of the British luxury range in the same manner as the Mulliner versions.

“Supersports couldbecome a brand,” he said. “It is a brand name in itself so that would be the performance [variant].”

Senapati explained that the Mulliner variants are “not a special edition” but a permanent addition to the line-up and would give customers a clearer choice between comfort-focused features or outright performance.

“This will be a variant of the car,” he said. “For example with GT, and GT Speed, if you want more performance then you go to Supersports, if you want more luxury you go to the GT Mulliner. That’s the beauty of our brand – we’ve got luxury and performance together.”

According to Senapati, Mulliner is the world’s oldest mobility brand, applied to horse saddles more than 400 years ago, while the Supersports brand surfaced on Bentleys in the 1920s before being reincarnated in 2009.

For the range of Mulliner variants, Bentley will apply some of its most luxurious treatments including

Electro-chromatic glazing that can go from perfectly transparent to completely opaque at the touch of a button, the use of innovative new lighting techniques and invisible controls including haptic touch-sensitive surfaces.

According to Senapati, Bentley is not exploring the relatively new technology of gesture control as it has difficult cultural and familiarisation problems for users, he said.

“The reason no one is launching gesture control in a big way is that it’s very confusing.

“The kind of things we’ll be looking at are true luxury. Almost all automotive materials have been explored now so we’re looking at going into new territories in materials.”