Grand Convertible: Bentley’s Topless Offering Is for the Top of the Top Percentile

As hard as it may seem for most of us to believe, there are those who wouldn’t consider a Bentley Continental GT luxurious (or exclusive) enough. Now, for those select few—very few—discerning and eminently wealthy individuals, there’s the new Grand Convertible by Mulliner.

Originally previewed as a concept at the 2014 Los Angeles auto show, the Grand Convertible is a droptop version of the Mulsanne, and it is now being put into strictly limited production. It’s all hush-hush, the news being fed only on a need-to-know (read: have-the-dough) basis. However, a spokesman for the British automaker confirmed via correspondence with Car and Driver that Mulliner, Bentley’s in-house customization and coachbuilding department, will build 19 examples of the Grand Convertible—a figure ostensibly representative of 1919, the year in which the company was founded, as Bentley prepares to kick off its centenary celebrations a little over a year from now.

Exact specifications of the production model have not been disclosed, but the concept we saw three years ago packed the high-output 6.75-liter twin-turbo V8 from the Mulsanne Speed sedan, which sends 530 horsepower and 811 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission.

 

The concept also featured a burl-walnut tonneau cover that was the largest single piece of wood veneer ever fitted to a Bentley.

Pricing information, likewise, has been disclosed only to the elite cadre of clientele to which the Grand Convertible is targeted, but it is rumored to hover in the range of $3.5 million. There’s no word on whether the ultraluxurious convertible will be made available to Americans; it is limited at present to the U.K., Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, where it was recently revealed to invited guests at the company’s flagship showroom in Dubai.

Confirmation of the Grand Convertible’s production comes eight years after Bentley discontinued production of the Azure—the open-air version of the Arnage sedan and Brooklands coupe models that preceded the Mulsanne. Archrival (and onetime sister company) Rolls-Royce likewise ceased producing its similarly positioned Phantom drophead coupe last year.

This isn’t the first variant of the Mulsanne that Mulliner has created for its most discerning and moneyed customers. Last year it revealed the Grand Limousine, which took the big sedan in the opposite direction by adding an extra yard to the vehicle’s wheelbase and three inches to the height of its roof to accommodate an extra pair of rear-facing seats in the back.