If you want a Bentley Bacalar, you’re too late.
Each of the 12 individuals worldwide who purchased the $2 million open-top two-seater has already spent many months developing personalized exterior paint schemes, unique tones for the Beluga leather seats, and detailed stitching patterns. The car, which was first announced in 2020, is built on the underpinnings of the Continental GT Speed Convertible but has a totally unique body—and is the first two-seat Bentley in nine decades.
It was built by the 40 artisans who at the brand’s Mulliner program at its Crewe, England headquarters. As the first of its kind in Bentley’s modern Mulliner operation, it is the crowning example of the kind of small-batch, highly specialized cars Mulliner aims to produce. Mulliner collections include classic models built anew, like the Bentley Blower continuation cars; extreme-luxury focused versions of existing cars from the Bentley model range; and 100% Coachbuilt cars like the Bacalar.
Bentley could have easily sold more than twice the amount it produced, Mike Rocco, Bentley’s vice president for sales and operations, told me in Carmel, Calif.
Since the Bacalar and Bentley in general are in such high demand, won’t Bentley increase the supply? Neither Rocco nor Timothy Hannig, the spokesman for the Mulliner department, would commit on the record to a definitive yes, but they didn’t exactly say no, either.
It all made me eager to drive the thing. If more Bacalar-like Bentleys are coming down the pike, we will indeed need to know how they drive. Prospective clients and Anglophiles alike will want a taste.
Here’s a quick answer: Divinely.
I recently drove a “Scarab Green” Bacalar test car in along 17-Mile Drive, just a nine-iron shot away from the Pebble Beach Golf Links. (While 12 Bacalars were sold, 13 were made—I drove lucky number 13.) While it wasn’t enough of a jaunt to do a proper review—the speed limit along that road is 25mph, and I cannot comment on any speeds that may or may not have been higher than that—it was enough to convince me this handsome Brit will more than fulfill its raison d'être as the perfect holiday coach built for two.
Please note: It doesn’t come with a top—at all—and the compromised trunk will fit two small duffels, nothing more, so this is not daily driver material.
Bacalar comes with a 6-liter W12 engine that feels as powerful as a tank (650 bhp) and an active all-wheel-drive system that works with scalpel precision as it varies the torque split between front and rear wheels. The car uses rear-wheel drive as much as possible during normal driving for optimum efficiency and dynamic performance, but I never felt the switch.