Bentley starts road trials for Batur in Europe

Bentley announced that two Batur development cars have started their European road trials, which consisted of 120 individual tests in a span of over 58 weeks.

“At the start of the project, it was clear that this car had to be the ultimate GT and so every element from the exterior design, engine power, and hand-crafted interior has been created without compromise,” said Bentley Mulliner Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Paul Williams.

One of the engineering developmental cars — dubbed Batur Car #0 — has commenced an extensive 2,500-kilometer (km) drive from Germany through Italy, France, and Spain. After that, it will begin seven weeks of durability work on handling tracks, mixed road conditions, high-speed testing, and abusive surface conditions.

When the proving ground work is complete, another 7,500km of real-world driving will be undertaken before the company starts the vehicle's environmental testing.

“There are a number of unique features that bring new challenges. For example, the exterior headlamps are very compact LED units and made to our styling team's challenging proportions, which transform the exterior appearance of the car but are complex to produce. We’re also working with the most powerful development of the W12 in its 20-year history, which brings an enormous validation program. Even small details such as the angle of the diamond in the front grille representing the cylinder angle in the W12 engine have had to be considered. And even though there will only be 18 Baturs produced, the level of quality has to be identical to every one of the 15,000 cars Bentley is currently producing each year,” commented Williams.

The limited series of just 18 examples are due to begin deliveries in mid-2023.

Photos from Bentley

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