Anyone with especially deep pockets now can be the first in his or her gated community to own an opulent Bentley Continental coupe or Flying Spur sedan at $200,000-plus that’s custom fitted with genuine stone dashboard trim in place of the usual wood veneers. To our knowledge this would be the first stone-trimmed car since the Flintstones, albeit ones that coddle their occupants in far greater luxury than Fred’s foot-powered Stone Age cruiser.
Slabs of sustainable slate and quartzite are harvested by hand from quarries in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, India and shipped back to Bentley’s factory in Crewe, England, where artisans fabricate it into a veneer that’s just 0.1 mm thick; this gives the material a translucent quality that makes it far more elegant and attractive than the common countertop.
The stone veneers are offered in a natural finish or they can be tinted in one of four colors. And yes, if you have to ask how much it costs you can’t afford it.
— Jim Gorzelany
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