Bentley’s Fancy Sound System Costs As Much As A Whole New Car

There’s being an audiophile, and then there’s stumping up £25,000 on an upgraded sound system for your car. That’s how much it costs to spec one’s Bentley Batur with the ‘Naim by Mulliner’ audio setup, or in other words, roughly enough to buy something like a mid-spec Kia Ceed.

But then, Batur buyers aren’t likely to view a Kia Ceed as a potential car purchase, and given that each of the 18 Baturs to be made by Bentley costs £1.65 million (plus taxes), £25k is chump change in relative terms.

So what are you getting for the money? Plenty of speakers, certainly - there are 20, made up of a sub-woofer, two woofers, two “active bass transducers,” nine mid-range speakers, and six tweeters.

Focal’s Grand Utopia speakers were used as a starting point for the system, into which went 10,000 combined hours of development from Bentley and British audio company Naim. Apparently “over 56 requirements and recommendations were identified” for the system, although Bentley hasn’t specified what all of these were.

The Batur’s design itself was tweaked to help the system perform better, with stiffened sections - including some around the doors and cabin - intended to reduce distortion. Bentley reckons the system “produces a sound that is immersive, exhilarating, warm and powerful,” which it probably ought to, considering the cost.

We wouldn’t be surprised if each and every one of the Batur’s 18 buyers opt for the system. After all, can you imagine the embarrassment of meeting up with fellow Batur owners only to discover you're the only one who didn't spec it? Unthinkable.