Last week, Bentley announced plans to launch five electric vehicles before the end of the decade, kicking off in 2025. Details regarding the EVs are shrouded in mystery, but thankfully, company CEO Adrian Hallmark is willing to talk a bit about the first one. Going on sale in roughly three years from now, the model from Crewe without a combustion engine will be the automaker’s most expensive car in the family.
It will therefore fill the void left after Bentley pulled the plug on its traditional flagship car, the Mulsanne, back in 2020. Adrian Hallmark’s told Autocar that with the first EV, they can go up or down in terms of pricing. Being an electric car brimming with the latest tech from the VW Group, it’s certainly going to cost more than the current crop of gasoline-fueled models.
Bentley’s head honcho went on to mention testing out on the road will commence later this year and the styling for all five EVs has mostly been done already. He refused to go into details about the shape of the first electric model, so we don’t know whether it will be a sedan like the old Mulsanne or an SUV. Even if it will be the former, chances are it will ride higher to fit those batteries underneath.
The CEO promises Bentley’s first foray into the EV segment will combine unique styling with a new formula of packaging all the hardware. In other words, the design is going to represent an important departure from existing models with their high-displacement combustion engines. However, Adrian Hallmark was quick to reassure traditionalists it will still look like a model born in Crewe, but in a more progressive way.
The firm’s halo model is expected to have next-level aerodynamics to maximize efficiency for better range and to compensate for a jump in weight caused by the heavy batteries. These future Bentley EVs won’t be shorter than today’s cars, but the engineers are making them a tad narrower to squeeze more range.
Interestingly, the ultra-luxurious electric car could benefit from wireless charging as Adrian Hallmark said Bentley is keeping its options open as far as juicing up the battery. Another possibility is using a hands-free automated system, meaning the owner would not have to manually plug it in. As for the interior, more sophisticated cabins with plush materials are in the pipeline for the new wave of EVs.
Source: Autocar
