Photo: Bentley
For those of us who make a decent living a $30,000-something brand-new car is not out of reach. For instance, if you're an American with a passion for muscle cars, that much easily lands you one of three iconic muscle cars: the Chevrolet Camaro, the Dodge Challenger, or the Ford Mustang.
But there are people in this world well-positioned enough to afford spending $30k not on a full car, but only of a small component of it. Like, say, a sound system. Welcome to the Universe of people who can afford to pay around $2 million for a car, not including options.
In the summer of last year luxury carmaker Bentley introduced into the world something called the Batur. Basically a Continental, it got modified by the company's even-more-luxury-division Mulliner to such an extent that it kind of redefines the genre.
Like most other Mulliner creations, the Batur is limited too, because nothing justifies a huge price on something better than its scarceness. 18 of them are planned to roll off assembly lines packing the company's mighty W12 engine, rated at 740 hp and a beautiful, round 1,000 Nm of torque.
The Batur is essentially the model Bentley is using to put an end to the life of the W12, whose last examples will roll off assembly lines in April 2024. And that makes it even more special still.
Special enough, it seems, for the carmaker to announce this week the availability of a new, purpose-made sound system for any of the 18 Baturs. Described as the "most exquisite in-car audio system ever created," it was put together with help from sound specialist Naim, Bentley's usual partner in this field.
We're dealing with a 20-speaker system derived from the Focal Grand Utopia range, bringing together six tweeters, nine mid-range speakers, two woofers, two active bass transducers, and one sub-woofer. Many of these pieces of hardware run new Focal drivers.
Bentley says the position of each speaker has been carefully chosen to create the perfect musical experience, and that was to be expected, After all, this is not the Toyota Sienna:Remix we're talking about, with its 60 speakers and an entire DJ setup throw in wherever they could fit.
Bentley does not give us any info on how much power the Naim for the Batur develops, but that probably doesn't matter, as in this case we're talking more about quality than punch. I mean, how many Bentleys have you seen drive by, music blasting from inside?
As said, the new sound system, which took about 10,000 hours (that's more than a year) to develop, according to the Brits, will only be available in the Batur, as an option. An option that carries a 25,000-pound sticker. That's exactly $31,672 at today's exchange rates, or $1,583 for each of the 20 speakers.
In the summer of last year luxury carmaker Bentley introduced into the world something called the Batur. Basically a Continental, it got modified by the company's even-more-luxury-division Mulliner to such an extent that it kind of redefines the genre.
Like most other Mulliner creations, the Batur is limited too, because nothing justifies a huge price on something better than its scarceness. 18 of them are planned to roll off assembly lines packing the company's mighty W12 engine, rated at 740 hp and a beautiful, round 1,000 Nm of torque.
The Batur is essentially the model Bentley is using to put an end to the life of the W12, whose last examples will roll off assembly lines in April 2024. And that makes it even more special still.
Special enough, it seems, for the carmaker to announce this week the availability of a new, purpose-made sound system for any of the 18 Baturs. Described as the "most exquisite in-car audio system ever created," it was put together with help from sound specialist Naim, Bentley's usual partner in this field.
We're dealing with a 20-speaker system derived from the Focal Grand Utopia range, bringing together six tweeters, nine mid-range speakers, two woofers, two active bass transducers, and one sub-woofer. Many of these pieces of hardware run new Focal drivers.
Bentley says the position of each speaker has been carefully chosen to create the perfect musical experience, and that was to be expected, After all, this is not the Toyota Sienna:Remix we're talking about, with its 60 speakers and an entire DJ setup throw in wherever they could fit.
Bentley does not give us any info on how much power the Naim for the Batur develops, but that probably doesn't matter, as in this case we're talking more about quality than punch. I mean, how many Bentleys have you seen drive by, music blasting from inside?
As said, the new sound system, which took about 10,000 hours (that's more than a year) to develop, according to the Brits, will only be available in the Batur, as an option. An option that carries a 25,000-pound sticker. That's exactly $31,672 at today's exchange rates, or $1,583 for each of the 20 speakers.
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