As the rarest two-door Bentley of the modern era, and the ultimate expression of two-seat, open-air experience, this distinctive Grand Tourer marks the return to bodybuilding by Bentley Mulliner – the oldest coachbuilder in the world.

Only 12 examples of this striking, limited edition model will be created, ensuring rarity and exclusivity, offering opulent luxury and breathtaking performance. Bacalar looks to the future of the bespoke luxury model – each one is handcrafted at Bentley Mulliner’s workshop in Crewe, according to the individual customer’s personal taste.

This exceptional, rare car is aptly named after Laguna Bacalar on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, a lake known for its breathtaking natural beauty, continuing Bentley’s strategy of naming cars after notable landmarks that began with Bentayga in 2015.

Bacalar has been brought to life by Bentley Mulliner, which revives its specialism in providing rare-built cars to just a few discerning and demanding customers. A roofless Barchetta design with completely new and highly muscular bodywork, encompassing a wide range of options and materials, ensures that each Bacalar is truly unique, the result of direct interaction between the Bentley Mulliner design team and the individual customer.

The most exclusive two-door Bentley of modern times launches a new Bentley Mulliner operation and is part of a new strategy for the world’s oldest coachbuilder that will see the division offer three distinct portfolios: Classic, Collections and Coachbuilt.

Bentley Mulliner has an illustrious history and can proudly trace its roots back to the 1500s, when the company originally focused on customising luxurious horse-drawn carriages. The remarkable Bacalar is therefore the culmination of almost 500 years of expertise and heritage in the art of vehicle design.

Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and Chief Executive of Bentley Motors, said:
“The Bentley Mulliner Bacalar is our ultimate expression of an open-top, luxury grand tourer, and the immense capabilities of our team in Crewe.

“With Bacalar, we have created a fully bespoke Bentley, focused on a two-seat open-top experience with some forward-thinking elements of future luxury, first announced in our EXP100GT as part of our centenary celebrations last year.
“Bacalar is a rare and remarkable Bentley, and although clearly defined, it will be an extraordinary and collaborative experience for just twelve discerning people who will now co-create, collect, drive and cherish one of the twelve Bacalars under construction.

“Our customers are as excited about Bacalar as we are, because it brings together our team and discerning enthusiasts to create the best bespoke cars and push the boundaries of our imagination and capabilities.

A masterpiece of craftsmanship, the Bacalar is a seamless fusion of materials with an intelligent curation of technology. It draws on the design DNA of the beautifully sculpted and award-winning EXP 100 GT, which was recently named ‘Most Beautiful Concept Car of the Year’ at the prestigious French Festival Automobile International and ‘Concept Car of the Year’ by GQ Magazine.

Bacalar has a purpose for the future, propelling Bentley into a new century of extravagance as the design team envisaged the most dynamically styled model yet. The dramatic tapered hoods at the rear hark back to the Barchetta sports cars of yesteryear, while underlining the promise of a dynamic, driver-focused adventure in a cosseting, cocooned environment.

Purely in line and execution, the distinctive, enveloping cockpit flows seamlessly from a new, stepped centre console into the dashboard and doors. These then curve towards the semi-enclosed boot behind the two seats.

Sustainable, ethically sourced materials previewed in the EXP 100 GT concept car last year have now become a reality in the Bacalar – just eight months after its initial preview. These include rice husk ash paint, which provides a sustainable way to deliver a rich metallic finish, natural British wool and 5,000-year-old Riverwood sourced from the ancient Fenlands of East Anglia.

The Bacalar features an enhanced version of Bentley’s unrivalled 6.0-litre, W12 TSI engine. It is the most advanced 12-cylinder engine in the world, delivering 650 PS and 900 Nm of torque.

An Advanced Active All-Wheel-Drive system varies the torque between the front and rear wheels. It enables the Bacalar to make maximum use of rear-wheel drive during normal driving for optimum efficiency and dynamic performance. The powertrain is at the heart of the Bacalar, creating the ultimate open-air, two-seat luxury Grand Tourer available worldwide today. All examples of the stunning Bentley Mulliner Bacalar have already been awarded to customers from around the world.

Bentley Mulliner returns to coach building

With the Bacalar, customers once again have the opportunity to work closely with a team of specialist designers to enhance their vehicle with a selection of unique materials and specially curated options. The Bacalar is the first – but other new bespoke Bentleys will follow as part of the Bentley Mulliner Coachbuilt portfolio – one of three new divisions of the Bentley Mulliner organisation.

The Bentley Mulliner Classic was introduced last year with the announcement that Bentley’s 1929 Team Blower will be reborn with a new build of 12 supercharged 4 1/2-litre examples of the iconic car. These models, each individually handmade by a team of specialists from Bentley Mulliner, will form the world’s first pre-war follow-up series of race cars. This sub-division of Mulliner also completed an immaculate restoration of the 1939 Bentley Corniche last year.

The company’s third arm – Bentley Mulliner Collections – will continue to offer customers luxury-oriented spin-offs of the core Bentley range, such as the new Continental GT Mulliner Convertible, as well as the opportunity to personalise their new Bentley. A wide range of options are available across the full range of current production cars – from unique colour combinations of paint, skin and stitching to bespoke elements.

Tracy Crump, Bentley Mulliner’s Head of Commercial Operations, explains: “While Bentley’s motto is ‘Be Extraordinary’, at Bentley Mulliner we look to go one step further, ‘Beyond Extraordinary’. With the new Bacalar, we have been able to do just that, offering a select number of customers the opportunity to express their personal tastes in a truly remarkable grand tourer.

Meanwhile, Bentley Mulliner Classic will breathe new life into the most iconic cars of our past, while our Collections team continues its work to offer every Bentley customer a bespoke service.”

Bacalar – A dynamic design for the future

The new Bentley Mulliner Bacalar is a true ‘roofless’ Barchetta – a luxurious, two-seater, open-air car that has never been seen before. Handmade to the personal taste of the individual customer, Bacalar is the ultimate expression of an open-top grand tourer: a spirited GT that combines traditional handcrafting with the latest cutting-edge technology.

The Bacalar shares no body panels with any other car in the Bentley model range and takes its inspiration from the dramatic EXP 100 GT concept car designed to celebrate the company’s centenary last year. The Bacalar shares only one exterior component with a Continental GT: the door handle, simply because it contains the keyless entry system.

Stefan Sielaff, Bentley’s Director of Design, explains:

“You can clearly see echoes of the EXP 100 GT in the Bacalar, as well as the influence of the past. Bentley has a rich history of open-cockpit cars – the design of the Birkin Blower Bentley in the late 1920s was also an inspiration. We had to push the boundaries as far as we could – customers wondered what Bentley would look like as a more expressive looking car at this price point. We were also tasked with delivering on Bentley’s promise to use sustainable materials. Within less than a year of unveiling our forward-looking concept, we have already delivered on this promise.”

The Bacalar’s rear clamshell and upper deck are made of lightweight aluminium, while the doors and wings are carbon fibre. Combined with the use of three-dimensional printing, it has allowed the designers to create an even more distinctive car.

The Bacalar sits on extended haunches, with a rear track 20mm wider than a Continental GT, to provide a more muscular, sporty stance. There are bespoke, 22-inch tri-finish wheels with dramatic depth and contour on the road. Unique horizontal lighting front and rear adds the distinctive, dynamic character first seen on the EXP 100 GT.

Instead of a traditional badge, Bentley’s designers have gone the extra mile to find a special way to identify the car. Uniquely, the Bacalar name appears on the rear panel, ‘hidden’ behind the durable ‘rice husk’ paint, with the capital ‘A’ influencing the contours of the lower bumper.

The exterior of each model is completed in collaboration with individual customers, allowing them to further personalise their car, choosing from rare paint options, exterior treatments and design themes. The Bacalar represents a return to the exciting early years of Bentley, allowing owners to help shape the car of their dreams.

A unique Wraparound Cockpit

Inside the luxurious cabin, Bentley craftsmen have created a cockpit like no other. The architecture of the Bacalar has given Bentley Mulliner designers the opportunity to create a theme that not only merges the interior and exterior, but also emphasises the two-seater character with a ‘wraparound’ cockpit design.

Clean in line and surface, the wraparound design flows from a steeply angled centre console into the dashboard, before integrating into the door panels. These then wrap towards a uniquely designed, semi-enclosed luggage compartment behind the seats.

This ingenious space is specially designed for custom-made Schedoni luggage, the Italian company that has been designing luxury luggage for the automotive industry for almost 140 years. Made exclusively for the Bacalar, the optional luggage perfectly matches the interior upholstery and materials. These two luggage ‘pods’ flow from the interior to the exterior, enveloping the seats and creating a true two-seater cabin.

Uniquely designed details and features in the interior emphasise the ‘coach-built’ character of the car, with an almost infinite number of ways for customers to express their personal taste and commission a unique interior.
Every detail is uniquely designed. A new, jagged pattern has been created for the iconic ‘bullseye’ air vents – a pattern that has been repeated throughout the interior on components such as the steering wheel controls, the media and climate controls and even the intricate speaker frets. Each element has a fine, Dark Bronze detail to further enhance the finish, with Midnight Black Titanium details.

The interior can be finished in a number of ways, with each car created and commissioned in collaboration with the Bentley Mulliner team. Each car is individually specified and finished using one of the many Bentley colours and materials available.

The finest Beluga leather is carefully stitched together with Bentley’s historic semi-gloss leather and natural wool to create a dark ‘tone on tone’ character.

For the first demonstration car, the use of Bentley Mulliner’s Khan accent leather emphasises the wrap-around cabin theme and matches perfectly with the new and unique Yellow Flame exterior paintwork.

Every element available, has been specially designed for the Bacalar. A new D-shaped steering wheel features Alcantara inserts, with a contrasting accent on the top. The gear lever is also finished in Alcantara with Dark Bronze detailing. Unique leather strap locks, unique digital instruments and a unique key design further enhance the luxurious cabin.

At the heart of the centre console is the now famous Bentley Rotating Display. This MMI digital display has been elegantly designed by Bentley with a customer-configurable home screen. Consisting of 40 moving parts, it rotates around the Riverwood veneer when the engine is started to reveal the high-resolution Touch-screen.

Three configurable windows can display the driver’s preferred functions such as phone, media and navigation. The interface is designed to work like a modern smartphone, with menus that are structured and easy to follow. The third side of the Bentley Rotating Display contains three elegant analogue dials that display the outside temperature, a compass and a chronometer – an alternative to the touchscreen when the driver wants to detox digitally.

Each car also has a unique dial with individual one-of-12 badging

Owning a Bacalar is the beginning of a journey of discovery for its owner. Each element has been carefully and meticulously designed to ensure that each customer will discover new and interesting details over time.

From the use of precious inlays and unique finishes to the driver controls, to the 148,199 individual stitches required to embroider the unique Bacalar quilt on each seat, owners will find details and components never before seen on a Bentley.

Sustainable craftsmanship and ethical materials

Bentley has partnered with carefully selected industry experts to create the new Bacalar. Each uses sustainable and innovative techniques that exemplify the best craftsmanship the world has to offer, in many cases refined over centuries, and using ethically sourced materials.

A focal point of the cabin is the wrap-around dashboard made of rare Riverwood, a durable wood from naturally fallen trees that has been preserved for 5,000 years in bogs, lakes and rivers in the Fenlands of East Anglia, England.

This exquisite wood was chosen for its striking black aesthetic, the result of lying untouched in wet earth for thousands of years. The wood was air-dried in a controlled environment over a long period of time to prevent damage and retain its unique, natural characteristics. The straight grain enhances the Bacalar’s sweeping inner contours, giving it real soul and drama.

Once veneered, the dashboard is literally cut in two, creating an upper and lower element through a 3 mm chrome strip. The upper Riverwood is finished with open pores – a semi-matt finish that shows off the grain and colour of the veneer.

The lower panels have a high-gloss finish, but with a modern twist on the traditional process. The Bacalar’s lower dashboard seamlessly transitions from veneer to a high-gloss piano black, further underlining the unique and bespoke finishes available. as the Bacalar has no roof, this stunning ‘marquetry’ is clearly visible from outside the car.

Bentley Mulliner has also partnered with a traditional British textile mill to produce bespoke natural wool fabrics that resemble a fine tailor’s suit. Bentley Mulliner has embraced the expertise and knowledge of these ancient methods to create an exclusive and unique woven fabric specifically for the Bacalar, and customers have the opportunity to co-create their own bespoke fabric mix.

This traditionally produced textile is used in the seat cushions, the backrests and the side of the headrests. Following the styling lines of the interior, it also flows from the side of the centre console and lower instrument panel to the doors. Promoting enduring craftsmanship and supporting a unique industry, the luxury overmats are precision woven on traditional Wilton looms in England using the finest natural yarns. These Wilton-woven pure wool high-pile carpets are hand-cut for the footwell and rear boot, following the embroidered pattern found on the seats.

Thanks to a partnership with another local supplier, based in the nearby Peak District, the Bacalar also offers customers the rare opportunity to create individual artisanal piping, chosen to enhance the dynamic styling lines of the seating architecture. These pipings can be designed with unique patterns, colour combinations and personal embossing effects, such as a customer’s signature or special, individual customer motifs.

Even the Bacalar’s paintwork is specially chosen for its durable properties. The pigment reflects a striking colour transition that enhances the drama, shape and contours of the sculpted exterior in different lights.

The pigment is a synthetically manufactured silicon dioxide plate coated with iron oxide. This synthetic process uses rice husk ash – a by-product of the rice industry – to create 90 per cent pure silicon dioxide, reducing rice husk waste. Each Bacalar is made by hand in Mulliner’s dedicated workshop at the Bentley factory in Crewe – the world’s first certified carbon-neutral luxury car manufacturing facility.

A unique driving experience

The Bentley Bacalar combines bespoke, handcrafted luxury with state-of-the-art technology to ensure an extraordinary driving experience.

With an all-new bodywork brought to life by Bentley Mulliner, Bentley’s acclaimed 6.0-litre, twin-turbocharged W12 TSI engine coupled to a technically advanced powertrain is the heart of the Bacalar.

The Bacalar’s eight-speed dual-clutch transmission provides faster and more efficient shifts. An adaptive chassis utilises Bentley’s intelligent 48-volt Dynamic Ride System to ensure responsive handling and exceptional ride quality and refinement in all conditions.

The Mulliner legend is woven into the very fabric of Bentley. The tradition of bespoke craftsmanship has been passed down from generation to generation since the 1500s, when Mulliner was founded as a saddler.

In the 1760s, the Mulliner family business turned to coachbuilding again and was commissioned to build and maintain carriages for the Royal Mail postal service. With the advent of the motor car, the company moved away from horse-drawn carriages and concentrated on building mechanically driven carriages.

The then independent Mulliner made a bespoke 3-litre two-seater Bentley for the 1923 Olympia Show in London, creating a bond between the two companies that would last for decades. In the 1920s alone, Mulliner built more than 240 Bentley chassis and became known as the very best of the new coachbuilders.

Perhaps the most famous was Mulliner’s design for the 1952 R-Type Continental, still considered one of the most beautiful cars of all time. The fastest four-seat sports car of its time, the iconic beauty of the R-Type still influences the design of the Bentley Continental GT.

Mulliner strengthened its partnership with Bentley in 1959 by becoming part of the company. The company later moved into the old experimental engineering department at Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe and has remained there ever since. Today, around 40 employees, ranging from specialists with more than 40 years of Mulliner experience to apprentices learning the skills honed over decades of production, work for the company.