What's all this about?
Bentley has a few things it wants to talk about at the Beijing Motor Show.
Such as?
Such as new models of the Mulsanne flagship. There's an Extended Wheelbase (EW) version now in the price lists, which offers a 'first-class air-travel experience for the road'. With 250mm of additional rear legroom, reclining back seats with extending footrests, curtains (no, really, so the occupants can snooze if required) and a pair of 10.2-inch Android devices in the rear, this is a businessperson's dream... and ideal for the Chinese market, too, where people prefer to be driven rather than to drive. Then we have the First Edition.
Eh? First Edition? Hasn't the Mulsanne been on sale a while now?
Yes, it has. So we're none the wiser. This is a limited edition car of just 50 examples, which can be specified in either the aforementioned EW, regular Mulsanne or range-topping Mulsanne Speed variants. It essentially comprises a Mulliner sterling silver vanity kit inlaid into the rear picnic table, plenty of First Edition motifs in the cabin and an engraved 'Flying B' bonnet badge. The EW First Edition on the stand possessed a ripple-patterned Fulbeck veneer sourced from a 350-year-old English walnut tree, but as this is an extremely rare material only a few First Edition cars will be able to have it - the rest will be fitted with an Antique Ash veneer.
What else has Bentley got to show off?
There's the 528hp/680Nm Flying Spur V8 S, capable of 190mph and fitted with sportier styling additions - inside and out - and revised air suspension tuning, as well as a Bentayga by Mulliner that has the mountain landscape that inspired the big SUV's name made out of 30 pieces of ten different veneers on the dashboard.
Matt Robinson - 25 Apr 2016