Car and Driver: Mulliner Could Give Bentley a Mulsanne-based Convertible

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Remember the stately convertible Bentley teased at the 2012 Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach/California? Some of us, this writer included, were allowed a glimpse of the Mulsanne-based open-top cruiser, which was slated for low-volume production and could have revived the Azure nameplate. It was a favorite project of then-CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer, who departed Bentley shortly thereafter to become head of Audi’s R&D.

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But alas, instead of readying the big convertible for production, Dürheimer’s successor Wolfgang Schreiber shelved the project—and confessed the deed to us at the Frankfurt auto show one year later.

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Schreiber is now gone, Dürheimer is back at the helm at Bentley and Bugatti. And while it’s too late to reverse Schreiber’s decision and go for a full series-production run, Dürheimer tells us that he’s currently studying the possibility of having the Mulliner division built a small number of Mulsanne-based convertibles.

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“Such a model would be built in [a batch of] 20 units and sold to absolute connoisseurs at a very high price,” says the CEO. It could come to market within two years and would probably cost somewhere around 1 million pounds—close to $1.5 million.

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As Rolls-Royce is about to end production for its Phantom Drophead Coupe, a Mulsanne-based convertible would be a solitary offering indeed. Go ahead and bring it on, we say. And we’re pretty sure Bentley could sell far more than the 20 units envisioned.

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