Bentley
Luxury automaker Bentley has unveiled a customer commissioned Batur model featuring rose gold 3D printed interiors.
‘The Black Rose’ is one of 18 Baturs being built by Bentley’s bespoke division Mulliner and is accented by up to 210 grams of 18-karat rose gold at key driver touch points, all hallmarked in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.
The 3D printed parts, including the Drive Mode Selector and Organ Stop vent controls on the dashboard, as well as a rose gold insert marker on the steering wheel, were produced with direct metal laser sintering in collaboration with Cooksongold, a Birmingham-based jewellery supplier which specialises in precious metal additive manufacturing. According to a press release, Bentley says the materials are sourced from 100% recycled jewellery.
In addition to rose gold printing, the car has been finished with Black Rose exterior paint and satin rose gold touches across the front grille, ‘endless bonnet line’ brightware, mirror caps, lower body kit and tri-tone wheels.
Bentley
Bentley first shared its applications in precious metal 3D printing back in 2022 with a series of 18ct yellow gold parts for the Batur, in what was believed to be an automotive industry first. That same year, the company announced a 3 million GBP investment to double its 3D printing capacity at its headquarters in Crewe, UK to enable ‘bespoke and low volume components, including additional gold applications in new generation models.’
While the automotive industry was an early adopter of AM technologies, particularly in motorsport for rapid design iterations and testing, the high-value, low-volume nature of metal 3D printing has found a good fit with manufacturers of luxury vehicles and supercars. Bugatti has been applying metal AM since 2019 to engineer high-performance parts such as the brake calliper and exhaust tailpipe for its Chiron model, and just last year McLaren Automotive revealed its use of Divergent Technologies’ AM technology to enhance the suspension hardware on its W1 supercar.
