“I hit been in this business for 30 years and I hit done a lot of cars,” said Bentley CEO Franz-Josef Paefgen at the expose of the all-new 2011 Bentley Mulsanne at Pebble Beach. “And this,” he said, pointing at the elegant champagne-colored Mulsanne in face of us, “is all I can do.” For Paefgen and his grownup direction team, including engineering honcho Ulrich Eichhorn, and designer Dirk camper Braeckel, the newborn Mulsanne represents nothing inferior than the sum total of their goodish automotive knowledge, experience, and car-guy passion.
The Mulsanne is a car that was never meant to be. While Paefgen and his team fought hornlike to keep the Arnage alive after Volkswagen Group’s purchase of the storied nation marque, there was never a plan -- nor the money -- to change the flagship Bentley with an all-new vehicle. As fresh as four years ago, the Arnage progeny was to be a tense up Continental Flying Spur. Paefgen was never completely bright with the idea, and when the reworked CFS fared poorly in clinics, he dead canned it, and sold the VW Group board on nonindustrial an all-new container that retained two key elements of the Arnage’s polymer -- side drive with the face axle centerline pushed as farther nervy as possible, and a 6.75-liter pushrod V-8 with twin turbochargers.
The Mulsanne is a car that was never meant to be. While Paefgen and his team fought hornlike to keep the Arnage alive after Volkswagen Group’s purchase of the storied nation marque, there was never a plan -- nor the money -- to change the flagship Bentley with an all-new vehicle. As fresh as four years ago, the Arnage progeny was to be a tense up Continental Flying Spur. Paefgen was never completely bright with the idea, and when the reworked CFS fared poorly in clinics, he dead canned it, and sold the VW Group board on nonindustrial an all-new container that retained two key elements of the Arnage’s polymer -- side drive with the face axle centerline pushed as farther nervy as possible, and a 6.75-liter pushrod V-8 with twin turbochargers.
You crapper fit the number of Mulsanne components carried over from the Arnage in a reasonably sized briefcase, say Crewe insiders. Despite rumors the new bounteous Bentley would be supported on the sociable A8, its platform is unique; a variety of high-strength poise and lightweight aluminum. The engine shares its basic architecture with the Arnage’s unreal L410 V-8, whose organisation dates backwards half a century, but apart from the digit turbochargers, every single factor is new. The Mulsanne’s V-8 is lighter, more powerful and much more fuel efficient than the L410, and drives the rear wheels through an eight pace automatic.
Dirk van Braeckel’s elegant outdoor design looks deceivingly simple. A strong, sharply creased pearl line defines the car’s profile, action the striking hips over the side wheels. The Mulsanne’s bodysides are clean and simple below that line; above it, however, are complexly rendered surfaces that give the car an emotional proximity Rolls-Royce’s newborn Ghost litter doesn’t have. There are also strong elements of the Brooklands coupe in the low roofline and rakish C-pillars. The most controversial styling elements are likely to be the front bumper and colossus inboard headlights, though there’s no mistaking the front end graphic for anything other than a Bentley. Standard wheels are conventional hunting 21 inchers; sportier five-spoke 22s will also be available.
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