Bentley’s Mulliner tailoring arm has turned its attention to the firm’s flagship SUV for what is set to be the British marque’s most opulent model money. Well, short of the one-of-18 Mulliner Batur, but they’ve all found buyers anyway.
The brunt of Mulliner’s handiwork has been focused on dialling up the level of luxury inside the Bentayga EWB’s already lavish cabin, especially for passengers in the rear. The Mulliner EWB gets Bentley’s ‘Airline Seat’ specification as standard, which the company claims is the ‘most advanced seat ever fitted to a car’, offering 22 ways of adjustability. The clever bit, though, is that the seats will monitor your posture and massage certain pressure points on your body to prevent your back from going numb on a long journey. It’ll also keep track of passenger temperature and ‘surface humidity’, and adjust the air conditioning accordingly. Both features are world firsts, apparently, and can be specced in either four or four-plus-one seating configurations.
Another ‘first’ regards the new olive-tan leather seats. Rather than using traditional tanning methods, which rely on chemicals that aren’t particularly friendly to the environment, Bentley instead uses wastewater from the olive pressing process as a dyeing agent. It apparently uses considerably less water and is free from nasty chemicals, resulting in an ‘organic leather’ that should feel just as sumptuous as the leather you find in the firm's 'regular' models. That’s paired up with 100 per cent pure wool Wilton overmats, while the base carpet now uses 100 per cent recycled nylon, again in the name of sustainability.
There’s also a curated, pre-set selection of three-tone interior designs, but if you fancy something a bit more personalised then Mulliner has over 4,000 different combinations to choose from. Diamond leather is available both front and back, with the leather on the door inserts featuring an assortment of LEDs (12 up front, 22 at the rear) that emit light through perforations in the leather. Other interior touches include a Mulliner clock, model-specific instruments, mood lighting and the obligatory puddle lights.
Exterior touches are a tad more subtle, aside from the (rather fetching) metallic purple paintwork. Mulliner’s signature double-diamond grille is present, and there’s a new 22-inch wheel design that’s bespoke to the flagship EWB. The ‘wings’ on the, er, wings get their own Mulliner touch, too, which are silver as standard but can be switched to gloss black, along with all the other shiny bits, with the optional ‘Blackline’ trim level. Whichever specification you choose, there’s only one powertrain option: Bentley’s 4.0-litre, twin-turbo V8 with 550hp and 568lb ft of torque. It’s mechanically identical to the standard EWB, though electric all-wheel steering and Bentley’s Dynamic Ride now come as standard.
Obviously, the Mulliner carries a healthy premium, with prices starting at £245,000 – or nearly £35,000 more than the standard EWB. You do get a fair bit of kit as standard, mind, so while I hesitate to use the word bargain, it’s certainly tempting if an EWB is on your radar. However, if a purple Bentley is all you’re after, then might I suggest taking a look at this...
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