LONDON/BEVERLEY HILLS: Time was when luxury car manufacturer Bentley would have turned down a customer request for a pale pink-painted model.
Since then, US model Paris Hilton has been seen at the wheel of a Barbie pink Bentley she had sprayed to suit her unusual taste and now the noble brand has opted for visual overkill of its own.
Bentley has launched pastel-coloured limited editions of three Continental GTC Speed convertible models in hues and finishes that "recall the golden age of Hollywood."
It seems the maker hopes to mine a glam tradition in the upmarket district of Los Angeles that goes back nearly 100 years, as Bentley explains in a gushing press release.
"1920's residents such as (Ed: film stars) Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Will Rogers and Rudolph Valentino gave Beverley Hills a cachet that it has never lost, and the colours of that Art Deco era have been brilliantly evoked in the Jetstream Blue, Sage Green and Hollywood Blush Pink finishes of the three Mulliner Bentleys".
The dropheads come as standard with a W12 engine delivering 650hp, a 0-100-kph sprint time of 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 335 km/h.
The models are turned out by Bentley's Mulliner in-house customising outfit and the company said demand for exotic paint finish orders had more than doubled since 2020.
