Bentley has plans for a down-sized ‘urban’ SUV to sit alongside the big Bentayga, and it will be the company’s first all-electric model when it goes on sale in 2026.
Lots of electric and hybrid Bentleys between now and 2035
The new SUV is part of Bentley’s plan to launch a new plug-in hybrid or fully electric model every year between now and 2035. That’s a lot of new Bentleys (although many of these will be updates of existing models). It’s called the Bentley Beyond100+ plan.
The luxury car maker is claiming that this new SUV, smaller than the Bentayga, marks the beginning of a new segment in the market - an SUV with traditional Bentley luxuriousness but a smaller footprint for a more eco-conscious image. Speaking of images, Bentley has released only a simple line-drawing silhouette of the new car, which suggests it will draw quite a bit of design influence from the Bentayga but with a much sportier rear end and a lower-slung roof.
Shares a structure with Audi and Porsche
It seems that the new model will use the PPE electric car platform developed by Porsche and Audi, and used by the new Macan Electric and the Audi Q6 e-tron. Incidentally, that doesn’t preclude the eventual arrival of a hybrid model of the new car, as Porsche is understood to be working on a hybrid Macan in the face of stalling electric car sales.
That said, Bentley reckons it will be an electric-only car maker by 2035, although as with many others it’s slowing down the speed with which it arrives at that milestone, keeping hybrid and plug-in hybrid models around for longer than originally expected.
Over a century
Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Chairman and CEO of Bentley Motors, said: “Four years almost to the day that Bentley initially outlined its Beyond100 strategy, we adapt to today’s economic, market and legislative environment to initiate a major transformative phase for tomorrow. Beyond100+ becomes our guiding light as we extend our ambitions beyond 2030, while maintaining our aim of a decarbonised future, including offering only fully electric cars from 2035, and reinforcing our credentials as the British creator of extraordinary cars for over a century and beyond.”
Bentley has made some significant investment at its historic factory in Crewe, in the north west of England. It’s already a certified carbon-neutral factory, while the company is currently upgrading the site with a new state-of-the-art design centre, paint shop and EV assembly line.
While the iconic W12 6.0-litre turbo engine has, alas, been discontinued, Bentley is currently expanding its plug-in hybrid line up, adding a 771hp plug-in hybrid V8 engine to the Continental GT coupe and Flying Spur saloon.