Spark Blue Bentley Flying Spur S Is 500th Car From Mulliner In 2022

The Bentley Mulliner personalization division celebrates a major milestone in 2022 by completing 500 customized cars in the last 12 months. To put that figure into perspective, the team needed from 2014 to 2021 to outfit 1,000 vehicles. 

The 500th Mulliner model this year is a Flying Spur S Hybrid for a client in the United Kingdom. The car features a Spark blue body, which is a new color from the division. The body also has the Blackline specification that darkens the exterior brightwork. It rides on 22-inch ten-spoke wheels in black. The Flying B badge is illuminated.

Inside, there's Beluga-color leather upholstery with diamond quilting and touches of Klein Blue. High-gloss carbon fiber decorates the cabin. The metal air vents, dial bezels, and other controls have a polished finish. 

The Flying Spur S debuted earlier in 2022 and had a public premiere at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It comes with black parts for the grille, lower fascia, side inlets, mirror caps, window surrounds, rear bumper accents, and exhaust outlets. The headlights and taillights are tinted.

The sedan is available with a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 making 543 horsepower (405 kilowatts) and 568 pound-feet (770 Newton-meters) of torque. Or, there's the hybrid-assisted 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V6 that this car has, and the powerplant produces 536 hp (400 kW) and 553 lb-ft (750 Nm). It can go 26 miles (41 kilometers) on electric power.

Bentley created the Mulliner division for vehicle personalization in 2014. The automaker reports that orders have grown by five times since 2018. This popularity contributed to the options revenue for each car being up 36 percent in the same period.

"2021 had already been a record year for Mulliner Design that saw the team needing to grow by 50 percent to meet customer demands and in 2022 that team has really been tested as it has seen a year-on-year increase of 85 percent in customer/retailer commissions," said Paul Dickinson, Bentley's chief commercial officer for Mulliner and motorsport.