Bentley has pushed back plans to go fully electric by five years as driver uptake of battery-powered cars continues to fall short of the industry’s hopes.
In an announcement on Thursday, bosses confirmed that the British marque will switch to an all-electric lineup by 2035 instead of 2030.
It comes months after Bentley delayed the launch of its first electric vehicle (EV) from 2025 to 2026. Originally envisaged as a grand tourer, it will also be a “luxury urban SUV”, the company said.
Frank-Steffen Walliser, Bentley’s chief executive, admitted that there was “not a lot of demand” among the company’s existing customers for electric models, amid a wider slowdown in EV sales across the industry this year.
The aim of a Bentley – as with a Rolls Royce – or, to be more accurate, one of the aims, was to produce a motor vehicle that didn’t sound like one. Inside you could hear that clock ticking. But with EVs that’s not so difficult to achieve. Sure, road noise and all that, but that’s easier than doing away with engine noise. So, two tonnes of steel and padding and fitting and…..not quite so necessary on an EV as compared to an ICE. One of those selling points for vast luxury cars has gone that is.
Sure, sure, Veblen Goods, the brand and all that. But that will only carry so much weight.
Making a big, quiet, high acceleration, car is now much easier than it was. So the distinction of a Bentley – other than that brand – has declined, no?
If you can afford a Bentley then you can afford the hydrocarbons. Electric cars, supposedly, involve paying a greater capital cost to lower ongoing ownership costs. If you are in the market for a Bentley then none of the more pedestrian ownership concerns matter.
Also, people with lots of money don’t want to buy a big white elephant.
Sure, spend lots of money, but you’re still going to be charging it for ages at the charging sites with the oiks.
In a petrol big Bentley type car, the tank can easily be made bigger and the chauffeur can easily fill it up in five minutes while you’re in a meeting/having whiskey and cigars at the social club/boffing the mistress ready for the drive home.
Can’t do that in an electric. Most likely it’ll still run out of juice during a journey and you’ll be forced to sit and wait for a charger, then sit for an hour while the local chavs come and think about nicking your wheels.
As for branding, we’re going to see a lot of manufacturers collapsing. To be replaced with Chinese brands. Because they’re cheaper. Even the number of Veblen goods brands will shrink because their volumes will shrink as well, forcing prices up, reducing demand.
Bentleys are heavy. Bentlyising the Audi platform that they’re based on — and those aren’t engineered for lightness to start with — always ends up porkier than the original. The solution has always been to shove a bigger engine in to cope with the mass, and a bigger fuel tank to cope with the engine…
But given VW’s horrendous efficiency in electric vehicles*, it’ll be impossible to get a reasonable range out of a Bentley. It’s got to be an “urban SUV” because high floor/low ground clearance is the only way they can package the enormous batteries that are going to be needed.
*The Porsche Taycan gets ~2 miles per kWh; the Tesla Model S which is in the same class of size and performance gets ~4.5
@Chernyy Drakon
Very good point about having to hang out at the electric charging station with the Hoi Palloi . It reminds me of why I finally purchased a car and ditched the bus as a way of getting to work: I was returning from work and a 7 foot gorilla sat next to me and started to talk, explaining that he just got out of prison for GBH and why I was a weirdo for liking marmite.
“Originally envisaged as a grand tourer, it will also be a “luxury urban SUV”. “As the months go by, I’m convinced they were engineering a “stupid” virus at Wuhan, along with covid. I can’t quite see the two types of vehicle being forged into one milk float. Unless under the new world order a “grand tour” is a trip to the next street…
@ Grist – yes, that’s also what struck me about the snippet and exemplifies the silliness of EVs. Nothing could be less suitable for a grand tour than a car whose source of power is precarious and slow to take on board when found. What on earth is the point of an urban SUV (luxury or otherwise) because ‘sport’ is not a feature of urban traffic and ‘utility’ is a misnomer for a car too wide for parking bays and narrow streets.
The stupid virus resulted from loss-of-function research at Wuhan, perhaps?
“under the new world order a “grand tour” is a trip to the next street…”
Unless the Council has blocked the road with flower pots…
Then driving something that can just go over them becomes useful.
Since Bentley is a luxury brand where price is not a consideration, it undermines the claim that it’s the price of BEVs that is putting buyers off.
“luxury urban SUV”
Reminded me of a Viz magazine mock advert for the Geronimo SUV – “For when your kindergarten is halfway up a f*cking mountain.”
Surely the point of a Bentley in our coming world is to be a good platform for hidden rocket launchers, machine guns, and drones? For Steve there could be the option of lions in the boot.
Your trip to Harrods would feel safer than usual.
For Steve there could be the option of lions in the boot.
But where does one keep their Squirrel Suit™ if the boot is full of lions?
Does anyone else see the contradiction in “urban sport utility vehicle”? Unless one’s a fan of that video game where you earn points for destroying other vehicles & running over pedestrians.
When they stop picking up the garbage (because they’re handing out too much to illegal aliens), only high ground clearance vehicles will be able to run on the streets.
These will be expensive, and even more expensive due to the “high sticker price” surtaxes.
There will be two classes of people able to afford them: the extremely rich (who have bribed the bureaucrats) and the higher end bureaucrats, who will be able to have them as a perk of the job.
Everyone else will take mass transit or (more likely) just have to hoof it.
Does anyone else see the contradiction in “urban sport utility vehicle”?
Its just a fancy name for “car on stilts”.
Most of these vehicles are rubbish off road, despite their pretensions.
They could handle an icy road and a bumpy gravel track, which is about as challenging as 99% of them are ever going to face.
For proper utility, you need something with 4×4 capability and more robust driveline architecture. Like a pickup truck or something else with a ladder frame chassis.
But people don’t want to buy a “car on stilts” so SUV it is. Sounds sexy and cool, A Utility Vehicle but Sports! Wow! Awesome.
Nevermind it’ll have a larger cross sectional area (more drag, higher fuel consumption), a higher centre of gravity (more likely to roll), weigh more (fuel again, slower, increase tyre wear) and will be shit off road as well (most don’t have a locking diff, drivetrain made out of chopsticks, despite being raised, ground clearance of a small dog).
if you want to drive on the road, get a car. If you need more load space, get an estate. If you want to go off road, get a proper 4×4
/rant
Why on earth do they call it a “British marque” when everyone knows it’s German?
Might it have anything to do with being eye-bleedingly ugly?
There’s a 70’s Bentley parked in my road. A thing of refined beauty. The modern Rollers and Bentleys I’ve seen (along with the silly Aston SUV) look like the love-children of Tonka toys and top-end trainers. They’re fucking hideous.
@BiS
Does anyone else see the contradiction in “urban sport utility vehicle”? Unless one’s a fan of that video game where you earn points for destroying other vehicles & running over pedestrians.
Given the potholes and construction around here, you would be a fool to drive anything less than a tracked vehicle.
@Chernyy Drakon
I think it’s because most new car buyers are primarily seeking status. So they’ll buy whatever the manufacturers offer them, as long as they see it enhancing their status. Personally I’ve never seen the logic of an SUV. The design makes all round visibility poor. Their footprint is too large for most parking spaces. They’re unsuitable for off road because off road you need rubber mats not carpet unless you never intend getting out of the car. You seriously need to go off road buy a proper Landy, a Jeep or similar you can hose out.
My last two car models bought to carry stuff were Volvo estates then Chrysler Voyagers. Both I could park given 6″ of clearance at each end & reverse round corners in narrow alleys. And no, parking sensors don’t help. The amount of SUVs I see with large dents in the middle of the tailgate prove that. Not sure if cameras are much better.
It seems to usually be women driving SUVs. Don’t know why. Feeling of security?
I think people like SUVs because of the higher driving position and perceived safety (ie bigger is safer). There is a status thing with a Range Rover or Volvo SUV maybe, but no one is buying a Nissan Juke or Kia Sportage to impress the neighbours.
My ideal motor would be a top of the range Toyota Alphard, complete with driver of course.
“ The Porsche Taycan gets ~ 2 miles per kWh; the Tesla Model S which is in the same class of size and performance gets ~4.5”
According to t’internet, both your stats are bollocks. The Taycan is rather better than that and the model S is 2.6 to 3.6.
There is a status thing with a Range Rover or Volvo SUV maybe, but no one is buying a Nissan Juke or Kia Sportage to impress the neighbours.
Adopting the shape is probably the critical thing. Mocking the style gathers some of the kudos.
Car styling is driven mostly by fashion. These days supposed aerodynamic energy saving solutions. Of course different aerodynamic solutions to 20/30 years ago when they were mocking high speed performance solutions. But it’s all largely bollocks. Our old favourite bit of maths. F=mv²/2. Note the ². Aerodynamics becomes progressively more important with speed. Since for most of their use cars spend the majority of their time down in the bottom of the curve, it makes hardly any difference. In fact the weight penalties attached to styling likely increase overall fuel consumption rather than reduce it.