Bentley's New $2M Car Is Pretty Wild

The Bentley Mulliner Bacalar features 5k-year-old wood, paint made from rice husks
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 3, 2020 4:32 PM CST

The Geneva Motor Show was canceled as a result of the spreading coronavirus, but there was no rain on Bentley's parade. And it's a good thing since the company's new car doesn't have a roof, not even a cloth one. The 2021 Bentley Mulliner Bacalar was unveiled online Tuesday with a price tag of $1.9 million, plus the cost of customizations. Its name comes from a particularly beautiful lake, Laguna Bacalar on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, per Car and Driver, which notes this continues Bentley's trend of naming cars after landmarks. Only a dozen of the cars will be made—all of which have already been sold—which makes sense considering the interior trim is made from trees felled some 5,000 years ago.

Bentley says the wood was naturally preserved in the rivers, lakes and peat bogs of East Anglia in the UK, then carefully dried out to preserve its natural look and black tone. Another "sustainable" feature is the paint, which is made in part from rice husk ash, "a byproduct of industrial rice production … that gives the paint its sparkle," per CNN. Customers will be able to customize certain features, including fabrics. Per MotorTrend, the two seats feature a quilt pattern that "requires precisely 148,199 stitches per seat to complete." Customers will also have the option to purchase custom-made luggage from Schedoni, designed to fit snuggly behind the seats. The cars, powered by a 650 horsepower 12-cylinder engine, are to be delivered starting next year, per CNBC. (More cars stories.)

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