Remember the stately convertible Bentley teased at the 2012 Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach/California? Some of us, this writer included, were allowed a glimpse of the Mulsanne-based open-top cruiser, which was slated for low-volume production and could have revived the Azure nameplate. It was a favorite project of then-CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer, who departed Bentley shortly thereafter to become head of Audi’s R&D.
But alas, instead of readying the big convertible for production, Dürheimer’s successor Wolfgang Schreiber shelved the project—and confessed the deed to us at the Frankfurt auto show one year later.
Schreiber is now gone, Dürheimer is back at the helm at Bentley and Bugatti. And while it’s too late to reverse Schreiber’s decision and go for a full series-production run, Dürheimer tells us that he’s currently studying the possibility of having the Mulliner division built a small number of Mulsanne-based convertibles.
“Such a model would be built in [a batch of] 20 units and sold to absolute connoisseurs at a very high price,” says the CEO. It could come to market within two years and would probably cost somewhere around 1 million pounds—close to $1.5 million.
As Rolls-Royce is about to end production for its Phantom Drophead Coupe, a Mulsanne-based convertible would be a solitary offering indeed. Go ahead and bring it on, we say. And we’re pretty sure Bentley could sell far more than the 20 units envisioned.
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