Bentley now going all electric by 2035, first EV’s an SUV

• Bentley’s pushed its timeline to go all electric back five years to 2035
• The automaker’s first EV will arrive in 2027 and be an SUV
• Bentley will keep PHEVs in its lineup until 2035, and BEVs will remain separate products

Bentley is once again reshuffling its electrification plans, but it still expects to have an all-electric lineup by 2035, the automaker announced Thursday.

In January 2022, Bentley announced plans to introduce five electric vehicles over five years starting in 2025, leading to an all-EV lineup by 2030. The launch of that first EV was later pushed back to 2026, a timeline that’s still in effect, Bentley CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser said in a media briefing, with a market launch in 2027 and prototypes currently undergoing testing.

That first all-electric model will be a “luxury urban SUV” that won’t replace any of Bentley’s existing models, Walliser said, adding that it will be “compact for a Bentley” at about 196 inches long. That’s 5.8 inches shorter than the current Bentley Bentayga SUV. Future Bentley EVs also won’t share platforms with its all-combustion or plug-in hybrid models due to packaging disadvantages, Matthias Rabe, head of research and development at Bentley, said.

“Charging speeds will be incredibly good, and range will be sufficient,” Walliser said, explaining that total travel time is what Bentley is focused on, and that this can be kept reasonable through a combination of fast charging and range. Those comments were echoed by Rabbe, who added that engineers are looking for a replacement for the exhaust noises of internal-combustion Bentleys.

“We don’t just want to copy something, and we don’t just want to make something which is only synthetic,” Rabbe said, promising a new approach to sound that isn’t currently used by any other EV maker.

Along with its first EV, Bentley plans to introduce a new plug-in hybrid or all-electric model every year before switching to selling only electric cars in 2035. Walliser confirmed that plug-in hybrids will stay in the lineup until that point, helping to reconcile what he sees as weak demand in the luxury market for EVs with the emissions regulations anticipated to require more of them.

Bentley Continental GT Speed in Tourmaline Green

“Legislation is driving electrification,” along with competition from other automakers, Walliser said, but added that on the other hand “there’s not a lot of demand” for EVs among current Bentley customers. But the Bentley CEO sees demand on new customers looking for a “more modern interpretation of a Bentley” and believes existing customers can be won over once they drive an EV.

Bentley currently offers plug-in hybrid versions of every model, but it’s unclear if the automaker will stick with a plan announced in 2020 to eliminate standalone combustion powertrains. There is at least one more non-hybrid version of the Bentayga planned, Rabbe said. Bentley will also continue to produce plug-in hybrids as long as there is demand, he said, meaning the 2035 deadline for their elimination could be flexible.

Walliser said in a recent interview that anticipated battery-technology developments and growth of charging infrastructure will create better conditions for EVs around 2035. Given that this aligns with Bentley’s current EV plans, there’s perhaps a better chance that those plans will actually come to fruition—giving Bentley the all-electric lineup it’s been discussing, on and off, for a decade.