- Bentley confirmed its first electric vehicle will arrive in 2026.
- The company is calling it the “Urban SUV,” and it’ll be smaller than the Bentayga.
- Bentley plans to have its entire range battery-powered starting in 2035, but it will continue to invest in hybrids and combustion engines.
The first electric Bentley will arrive in 2026. We wrote about its delay in March. Initially, the plan was to launch the car in 2025, and today, the British automaker confirmed the new debut date in an online presentation in which the new president and CEO, Frank-Steffen Walliser, and Bentley board members updated the press on its plan Beyond100, which it now calls “Beyond100+.”
Without going into details, Walliser anticipated that the EV would be a completely new car, specifically an “Urban SUV.”. But what does Bentley mean by the word “Urban?” The CEO explained that it will be a slightly more compact SUV than the “usual” Bentleys. The company confirmed it will be less than 16.4 feet long. A Bentayga, pictured below, is 16.8 feet long. The car will also offer more visibility and versatility, as it will have an important mission: to attract new customers.
“I don’t want to offer more information at the moment,” the CEO said. However, although the numbers remain confidential, he assured us that the range would be “amazing” and the charging speed would be “extraordinarily good.”
Furthermore, since “sound is very important” to those who love cars, especially sports and luxury cars, Matthias Rabe, board member for engineering, anticipated that Bentley’s EV would have a unique sound. “With electrification, we don’t want to copy anything or anyone” and it will be “exhilarating.”
Not Just Electric Bentleys
Speaking of the first electric Bentley, the managers also confirmed that the entire range will be battery-powered from 2035. That remains the plan; however, the CEO was keen to point out that the company will continue to invest in new models, including plug-in hybrids and even ICEs (as long as the market demands it and laws allow).
After all, Bentley also believes strongly in e-fuel, as he reiterated today and demonstrated with a special test of the Continental GT Speed.
The “Dream Factory”
A further and crucial step on its path to an all-electric range was then the opening of the new facility at Bentley’s carbon-neutral headquarters. It will complete the new 134,119-square-foot paint shop in 2025, offering customers a wide choice of nearly 100 paint colors. In addition, a four-story office building will house more than 370 Bentley employees
The new building is part of a £2.5 billion ($3.2 million at today’s exchange rate) investment program for future products and the Pyms Lane plant in Crewe, England, where all Bentley models are made by hand. Andreas Lehe, a board member for manufacturing, recalled that this grand opening “is a milestone and supports our goal of achieving a benchmark position in new, cutting-edge technologies, skills and facilities to enable a truly digitized and highly flexible benchmark for luxury car production.”