► Bentley’s first electric car coming in 2026
► ‘Luxury urban SUV’ will be new model
► Four more Bentley EVs by 2035
Bentley is holding firm in its plans to go pure electric by 2035. The brand’s CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser is overseeing ongoing development at the brand’s Crewe home to electrify further, and confirms the brand’s first all-electric car is on track to be unveiled in 2026 and go on sale in 2027.
‘The development work continues,’ says Walliser during a media call surrounding the brand’s 2024 sales results. ‘With all the investment behind it, this is a transition year – we’ve laid out everything for around the product. More news about that will come by the end of 2025. We are continuing our ambitious Beyond100+ strategy to stay self-funded and continue on the path to be exclusively electric by 2035.’
Walliser also comments on the changing market surrounding electric cars. ‘Our strategy already considers a slow-down in electrification,’ he says. ‘Of course, we are already having a close look at the markets, and I would say there is already a deep acceptance of electric cars. Maybe [Bentley’s plans] were a bit too bullish in the beginning, but now we are closer. Customers are gaining more experience in them, too.’
There will be either a plug-in hybrid or EV launched every year from now onwards, with the first electric car being this new SUV in 2027. Bentley claims the new electric car, which won’t replace any of the brand’s four existing models but complement them, is the first ‘true luxury urban SUV’. This depends slightly on your definition of luxury (Bentley probably sets a higher standard than most) but the urban part refers to the length, which will be under five metres.
What will be different about the new Bentley electric SUV?
An uplift in comfort is promised, together with a level of agility beyond the current plug-in hybrid and combustion-engined line-up offered by the firm’s existing line-up.
‘It will be a little bit more compact, for a Bentley – under 5m and easier to drive in urban areas,’ explains Walliser. For reference, a standard Bentayga SUV is 5.1m long and the Bentayga Extended Wheelbase (EWB) is 5.3m in length. The Porsche Macan is 4.7m long, which is notable because that too is an all-electric SUV and Bentley’s new one will use the same platform. Porsche and Bentley collaboration is nothing new, though, with recent examples including the Ultra Performance Hybrid system used in the latest Continental GT and Flying Spur.
Speaking more about the new model, Walliser adds: ‘It will be super versatile and you will be able to use it for both long range and for the city. We want to attract new customers – there is not a lot of electric demand among today’s Bentley customers – and we think this vehicle will help us do this. Optimising travel time is not just about range. We will have incredible fast charging and the range will fit all the needs of our customers.’
What about Bentley’s other electric car plans?
That comment about the lack of electric demand among existing Bentley customers is rather telling. For while the new car will be the first of several EVs arriving before 2035, there has been a prudent re-engineering of Bentley’s initially hyper-aggressive electrification timeline.
The original intention, announced in January 2022, was to launch five electric vehicles between 2025 and 2030. That end point also being the moment Bentley would become 100 per cent EV. This so-called ‘Five-in-Five’ scheme was part of the original Beyond 100 business plan, and an ambitious £2.5bn push to establish Bentley as a leader in sustainable luxury.
The new Beyond 100+ sees the brand’s ‘all-electric by 2030’ goal revised to 2035 and stretches the product introduction out a bit. We’ll see a new model every year between 2026 and 2035 but the rollout will comprise new plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) as well as full battery electric vehicles (BEVs).
Bentley’s also not yet done with purely combustion-engined cars, hinting at a hot Bentayga for 2025. Something it reiterated during the launch activity for the revised Flying Spur Speed.
‘This is the part of the strategy we have been concentrating on since I arrived; how it will work and what is the right timing,’ Walliser told CAR in September 2024. ‘Things could still change. We have five-year cycles, so you have to review at least every five years. And when you look back five years from now, to 2019, pre-Covid, the picture was completely different.’
Do Bentley customers want electric cars?
As is consistently the case across the industry at the moment, it’s the tepid customer demand that’s prompted the re-think, rather than any serious technical, production or financial challenge. Bentley is still proceeding with a £3bn self-funded investment into its facilities at the home base in Crewe.
‘The big question is: when is the customer ready?’ says Wallister. ‘You can only sell it if your customer is convinced; you cannot push it. For sure it also depends a lot on the regulators, the political and tax boundary conditions. But the luxury car it is not something you buy to go from A to B. They are outside of tax optimisation, and realistically you cannot ask for a tax reduction on luxury cars. So, this is a real market. It is not driven from the outside.
‘I would say what we’re seeing in the [electric] market at the moment is a dip, with a lot of factors affecting that. Electric demand will come back, at different speeds in different categories and in different countries, and we will be prepared for that. And when we arrive with our first BEV in 2026/2027 it will coincide with a second wave of customer acceptance.’
How will Bentley go electric?
Walliser’s familiarity with the VW Group’s various platforms should stand Bentley in good stead as it works to create its initial battery electric offering. The urban SUV will use an advanced version of Premium Platform Electric (known as PPE), as seen in/under Porsche’s electric Macan and the Audi Q6 e-Tron, as well as the new Audi A6. Put it to Walliser that the prospect of a Bentley that feels and drives like any of the above doesn’t feel right and he smiles a weary smile.
‘The question is always: “What is the platform?” But really there are so many variants, and this makes sense when you have the requirements of so many different brands. Software also has a big part to play – it has a very big impact. Has Crewe been influencing the design of PPE for years? It’s more like “What can we take?” We can do whatever we want; whatever is appropriate for the brand. We just need a platform that gives us a good base on battery power, charging speed, the electrical architecture and the software platform.
‘This is where I think sometimes Bentley is misjudged. It is also a technology company – we’re handling all this stuff. It’s not only stitching and leather and nice interiors, and I’ve not seen many [other luxury car companies] in the world capable of doing this to this level. Honestly, no one. It is not just a carryover platform. The engineering job is way bigger – to bring a Bentley-ness to every part of the platform, even where you cannot see it. This is very important, so that we are unique.’