From The Motor Show Hosted In Cyberspace

The unveilings or show may have been virtual, hosted in but automakers delivered big.

- Tony Davis

There were plenty of spectacular cars pushed onto the stands at the annual Geneva Motor Show this year. It’s just that no one was allowed to see them in the metal. Geneva is the most prestigious international car show of the year. It’s on neutral territory and many use it to launch major new models and to spring surprises. This year though, it joined the almost limitless list of cancellations owing to the spread of Covid-19. The last-minute decision left carmakers to launch their machines virtually, and journalists to work their phones.

“It would have been so nice to guide you around and show you all the details,” Stefan Sielaff tells us, with genuine disappointment. Sielaff is the head of design at Bentley and this was a big chance to show off the new Bacalar roadster, and the company’s move into low-volume coachbuilding under the Bentley Mulliner name.

Only 12 examples of Bacalar will be built, priced at £1.5 million ($2.7 million) before tax and options. Sielaff tries to convey in words and photographs what he would have much rather shown us in all its 3D glory.

“First of all, I mean it is obviously very clear it is a two-seater, no roof, so a barchetta-style Bentley. Every body panel is new… the matrix grille has a more attacking attitude, [there’s] a kind of shark nose in the front.”

Most sporty Bentleys in recent years have had small “two-plus-two” seats in the rear. Sielaff says the car is a big move forward, both in design — he highlights the radical lighting in particular — and the way the interior tightly wraps around just two occupants.