Matchbox MB1235 : ’18 Bentley Bentayga

New for 2021 is this stunning Bentley Bentayga.  Its initial release is a very realistic dark blue colour for its first outing at position #09 in the 1-100 range and at first glance this is an outstanding design and representation.  We haven’t seen a new Bentley casting in the Matchbox miniatures line up since the Continental GT Coupe was released back in 2007 and from a design point this one will not disappoint.

The proportions seem to be handled quite well and the overall look is a testament to the skill of the designers at Mattel; the design has captured the essence of the Bentley Bentayga quite well and for most it will be a nice addition to the collection, particularly as the colour choice is that of the real deal lending even more authenticity to the release.

Sadly though the Mattel accountants have again been allowed to dictate things that impact the design and this clearly lets down this model with its fully black windows to hide the fact that there is no interior.  Now I know some collectors may not care but for me some of the small details like this are what makes the difference between a good model and a great one.

If you look at the stunning tampo job that shows the detail in the grille, headlights, badging and tail lights you can clearly see the massive improvements that Mattel have achieved in the tampo printing process, they now seem to be as good as companies like Realtoy were about 10 years ago which is great to see.  The wheels chosen are the Double 10 Spoke which again seem to suit the model well, they are not a sporty wheel but they are on the elegant side which is what a Bentley should have.

The model as is the standard practice these days has a plastic base, some hardcore collectors will not be happy about that but for me I have come to accept that it is the case for a model in the basic range; I would prefer a metal base but maybe that will come if the casting appears in a premium range in the future; we will see.  The interesting point on the base is the labelled model name, during the preview of models at the Gathering back in July 2020 the model was titled ”2019 Bentley Bentayga” however now that it has been released it is marked on the base as ”2018 Bentley Bentayga’.  Not sure why the change was made but its a small detail that doesn’t impact the overall beauty of this model.