Bentley built just 18 Batur coupés, and every one had been reserved before the car reached the road in earnest. The number makes an immediate impression, but it does not explain the project. Batur was conceived as a design conversation between Mulliner and each owner: one underlying shape and mechanical package, interpreted through 18 different selections of colour, material and finish. [1][2]
Its name comes from Lake Batur in Bali. The bodywork, meanwhile, had a forward-looking purpose. Bentley introduced the coupé as the clearest early expression of a cleaner, more concentrated design language intended to influence the cars that followed. Batur is therefore a rather unusual double portrait: it celebrates the marque's large W12 petrol engine while its shape points towards a different technical future. [1]
Coachbuilt is more than an options list
Batur belongs to Mulliner Coachbuilt. The term reaches back to an age when a body could be made separately for a chassis; here, it describes work that goes far beyond choosing the paint for an existing production model. Batur followed the open Bacalar, but became a closed two-seat grand tourer with an identity of its own. [1][2]
Owners worked directly with Mulliner's design team. Their decisions extended beyond paint and hide to metal finishes, fibres, textiles and small components that would ordinarily be identical from one car to the next. Bentley offered possibilities including titanium, natural-fibre composite and 3D-printed 18-carat gold. These were ingredients from which a client could choose, not a standard recipe applied to all 18 cars. [1][2]
Black Rose reveals the extent of the commission
The press photographs show one particular owner's car: The Black Rose, revealed in 2025. It combines a specially commissioned black metallic paint with rose-gold-coloured details across the grille, mirror caps and lower bodywork. Inside, the same idea continues in rose gold at touchpoints the driver actually handles.