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The Bentley Mulsanne exits the stage as production ends

Bentley is done with the Mulsanne. The one you’re looking at here is the penultimate car to come out of the factory in Crewe, Cheshire, England. Apparently, the owner of the last one is rather secretive and wants to keep their car under wraps. That being the case, Bentley has surrounded this Tungsten and Rose Gold Mulsanne with all the pomp and circumstance one would expect from the end of an era at Bentley. At least, as much as the pandemic will allow. Bentley employees are pictured here next to the car, standing apart with masks on. ItÂ’s one of the Mulsanne 6.75 Edition cars Bentley previously announced, which the company limited to just 30 units. The end of the Mulsanne also means the end of the 6.75-liter V8 at Bentley. We gave that engine its own sendoff post, but needless to say, the engine series is an old one and can be traced back to 1959. BentleyÂ’s Mulsanne is much less old. This flagship sedan was introduced at Pebble Beach in 2009, and has been in production ever since. Bentley has given it a couple rounds of updates, with the addition of the faster Mulsanne Speed in 2015, along with a design and tech refresh in 2016. Bentley built just over 7,300 total Mulsannes, and itÂ’s released a few eye-popping production stats. In the end, about 700 people were part of the production process to build the Mulsanne, putting in nearly 3 million total hours. Over a million total hours have been spent creating the interiors, and nearly 90,000 hours have been spent polishing the cars.  “I am immensely proud of the hundreds of designers, engineers and craftspeople that brought the Mulsanne to life over the last 10 years,” said Adrian Hallmark, Bentley CEO. “Now, as we begin BentleyÂ’s journey to define the future of sustainable luxury mobility through our Beyond100 strategy, the role of Bentley flagship is passed to the new Flying Spur.” ThatÂ’s right, the Flying Spur is the new flagship for the time being. Though, the latest rumors point to Bentley making a gigantic SUV as its future flagship vehicle to properly replace the Mulsanne. Is anybody surprised? Related video:

Bentley Grand Convertible is grand, is a convertible

What you see above is the Bentley Grand Convertible, live from the Los Angeles Auto Show. It's basically a droptop version of the Mulsanne Speed, which would seem to be a foregone conclusion for production, but apparently isn't, according to Bentley Chairman and CEO, Wolfgang Dürheimer.
"We are eagerly awaiting the response of our customers to this car. We will ensure that this car - if it reaches the roads - will be a highly exclusive, extremely limited collector's piece."
With its production possibilities out of the way, and with the image gallery you see above proving that it is, indeed, a convertible, we can move on to what makes this Grand Convertible so grand. Equipped with the same 6.75-liter engine with 530 horsepower and 811 pound-feet of torque as its hardtop brethren, it certainly won't be lacking for power. The Grand Convertible has been "fashioned entirely by hand from the very finest materials," says Bentley, and the tonneau is made from the largest piece of wood veneer ever applied by the automaker.

2015 Bentley Flying Spur V8

Despite Bentley's reputation as a holier-than-thou, ultra-luxury brand, at the end of the day, the Big B is still a business. As such, ongoing trends like powertrain downsizing and model range expansion are more prevalent at Bentley than ever. Just look at the Continental range - what started as the GT W12 has expanded into the GTC W12, GT V8, GT V8 S, GTC V8, GTC V8 S, GT Speed and GTC Speed. Talk about "have it your way."
But there's good reason for that. So many of these vehicles, despite their hand-crafted, bespoke nature, are all - gasp! - plug-and-play exercises that allow Bentley to appeal to the broadest range of upper-lux buyers, while keeping development costs relatively low. It's a move that's indeed worked, the company managing to post healthy sales increases year after year. And that's only going to get better, following the launch of the Flying Spur sedan last year, not to mention the upcoming, highly anticipated SUV that's in the works. As Kevin Rose, Bentley's member of the board for sales, marketing and aftersales told me recently, "The best years are yet to come."
To further expand an already growing range, I recently hopped a plane to London to experience the second member of the Flying Spur family - the V8. This less-powerful Spur offers better fuel efficiency and a lower staring price, while not compromising any of the brand's core values of luxury and refinement above all. But to paraphrase what executive editor Chris Paukert said when he drove the Conti GT V8 in 2012, this is indeed The Thinking Man's Flying Spur. Here, less really is more.