Bentley’s first electric car arrives, and its next one is not due until after 2030

Bentley revealed the Torcal, its first electric car, at a London debut where its chief executive said no further electric model is planned before 2030 at the earliest and that the era of the decade-long roadmap is over at Crewe. The company’s all-electric target has moved from 2030 to 2035, and the new production line was designed to build combustion and electric cars together.

Bentley has revealed the Torcal, the first electric car in its history, InsideEVs reported. The midsize SUV makes 876 horsepower, carries a 113 kWh battery and is rated at 375 miles on the WLTP cycle. It takes up to 400 kW and charges from 10 to 80% in under 20 minutes.

Then it dropped the deadline.

Chief executive Frank-Steffen Walliser said at the London debut that no further electric model is planned before 2030 at the earliest, and that the era of the decade-long roadmap is over at Crewe, autoevolution reported. Bentley had promised to sell only electric cars by 2030. That date is now 2035.

He blamed the rule makers.

Regulators have new ideas every week, Walliser said, which he argued makes predictable planning impossible. Bentley has shelved its combustion phase-out and developed a new family of plug-in hybrids. The company cites falling demand for ultra-luxury electric cars and loosening engine rules.

The factory was built for both.

Bentley has finished a £350M investment at Crewe including a new line for the Torcal, which the business secretary said supports 4,000 jobs, Euronews reported. That line makes electric and hybrid cars together, so output can follow demand and whatever the rules allow. The Torcal starts at £173,300, the cheapest car Bentley sells.

Britain loosened the rules, partly.

The zero emission vehicle mandate was revised in April last year to exempt makers of fewer than 1,000 cars a year from the 2030 requirements, with negotiated targets for those under 2,500. Aston Martin, McLaren, Lotus, Morgan and Caterham qualify. Bentley delivered 10,643 cars in 2024 and does not.

Underneath, it is a Porsche.

The Torcal uses Premium Platform Electric, the 800-volt architecture Porsche and Audi built inside Volkswagen Group, and carries the same 113 kWh battery as the Cayenne Electric. That car charges from 10 to 80% in under 16 minutes. Porsche abandoned its own 80% electric target for 2030 in July 2024, and its operating profit fell 93% last year.

Bentley promised more than this.

In 2022 it said its first electric car would arrive in 2025 with up to 1,400 horsepower and reach 60 miles per hour in 1.5 seconds. It has arrived as a 2028 model year car with 876 horsepower and 2.8 seconds. The line that builds it was designed to build petrol engines alongside it.