There are two-tone Bentleys, and then there is this. Mulliner’s new Ombré paint has made the leap from coupe to four-door, with a Flying Spur that fades from Topaz Blue at the nose to Windsor Blue at the tail. It is not a wrap or a trick of light. It is paint, laid on by hand, across doors, sills and roof, in a process that takes close to 60 hours for two specialist technicians who also ensure the blend is perfectly symmetrical left to right.
In the metal, a good fade reads as movement rather than noise. The Topaz to Windsor combination feels nautical and calm, which is timely given the car’s debut at the Southampton International Boat Show. Under harsh sun, the transition is slow enough that you only really catch it at a glance, like a changing tide. Ombré is available in two other curated pairings, Sunburst Gold to Orange Flame, and Tungsten to Onyx. Curation matters here. Mix the wrong paints and you get an unintended third color in the middle. Bentley even notes the classic pitfall, yellow to blue becomes green, so the palette is deliberately limited to keep the gradient clean.
The Flying Spur cabin remains a sanctuary of leather, wood and silent confidence. It is also a place where personalization can run away from you. With Ombré outside, restraint inside becomes the power move. Deep blues, dark veneers and minimal contrast piping will let the exterior do the talking. Go maximalist with gold-to-orange paint and a kaleidoscope interior and you risk turning artistry into costume. Mulliner will do either, of course, but the gradient rewards discipline.
How it feels, not how it reads
This is still a Flying Spur, which means long-legged comfort, serious pace and the kind of quiet that makes phone calls feel like boardroom meetings. The Ombré does nothing to the numbers, but it changes the experience. You glide into a hotel portico and people notice, yet they cannot quite say why. That is the sweet spot between spectacle and taste.
Special paint is wonderful until gravel finds it. A flawlessly blended midsection is harder to repair than a single tone, so owners who plan to use their cars as intended should budget for top-tier paint protection film over the panels that carry the fade. Consider that an insurance policy on a £48,000 or $68,000 option, which is the cost of Ombré by Mulliner. It is a bold number, although not out of step with a market where bespoke paint can cost more than an entire family hatchback.
Bentley is reading the room. The top end of the market has moved from mere specification to authorship. Rolls-Royce makes hand-painted coachlines and immaculate two-tones. Maybach leans into gloss and pinstripes. A true gradient is rarer, more custom-shop than factory line, which is why this matters. The first Ombré appeared on a Continental GT at The Quail, a Monterey moment if ever there was one. Taking the technique to the Flying Spur signals that Mulliner’s craftspeople are not just capable, they are confident.
Ombré on a limousine could have been loud. Executed in blues, it is quietly theatrical, a flourish you sense before you see. The bolder Sunburst fade will divide opinion, which is part of the fun when you are commissioning a car in this league. Either way, the message is clear. Bentley is turning paint into narrative, and the Flying Spur into a moving canvas. If luxury is the point where skill and feeling meet, this is it, with a wispy line of color telling the story.
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