The 2011 Bentley Mulsanne made its debut at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show. See pictures of the 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost.

A famed British motorcar maker has an all-new flagship sedan that spares no expense for luxury, tech, and craftsmanship. The Bentley Mulsanne isn't for everyone, but neither is the new Rolls-Royce Ghost.

What We Know About the 2011 Bentley Mulsanne

Bentley Motors Ltd. wants us to remember several things about its new flagship sedan, which starts U.S. sale in fall 2010 at a cool $300,000 or so. First, the 2011 Bentley Mulsanne ("mull-SAHN") is new from the wheels up. It shares virtually nothing with other Bentleys or anything else in the parent Volkswagen Group stable, let alone the car it replaces, the 1997-2009 Arnage. Second, the Mulsanne is exclusive. Only about 700 will be built each year for global consumption, and they will be built mainly by hand, as any proper top-class motorcar should be. Third, despite a recycled model name and "heritage" styling cues, the Mulsanne is packed with modern technology, some of it aimed at extracting halfway decent fuel economy from this big 2.5-ton car.

Last but not least, the 2011 Bentley Mulsanne is not only the "pinnacle of the ultra-luxury" market but the "driver's choice" in that field. At least that's the company line. The Mulsanne is designed to be sportier yet no less cosseting than the new 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost, with which it will compete to some extent. After all, chaps--and ladies--it comes from Bentley, a company that has won the legendary Le Mans 24-hour race several times over its long history.

Speaking of history, the 2011 Bentley Mulsanne is the first all-Bentley Bentley since the company merged with Rolls-Royce back in 1931. That marriage ended after 70 years in a messy 2001 divorce caused by a bidding war between VW Group and BMW. Though the two British brands have since fared quite well on their own, Bentley has far outpaced Rolls in sales and earnings, thanks to the stellar success of its mostly German-engineered--and lower-priced--Continental GT and 4-door Flying Spur models (which do borrow from the parent's parts bins). Indeed, Bentley worked its way up to a one-year sales record of 10,000 units in 2007, about 10 times what Rolls managed and amazing for a small, "bespoke" automaker. Lately, of course, Bentley's business has, ahem, fallen off a bit--by about 50 percent--whereas Rolls sales were up 20 percent from 2007 to '08.

But Bentley CEO Franz-Josef Paefgen is confident that sufficient big-buck buyers will be opening their wallets again by the time his new flagship launches. They sure better be. Though Bentley isn't saying how much it's invested in this project, the sum must be huge for an automaker this size, so the Mulsanne can't afford to fail.