Bentley, the Volkswagen Group’s ultra-luxury brand, appears to be getting even more enthusiastic about EVs.
“What we’re seeing in the luxury market right now is that people are rejecting electric cars,” CEO Frank Steffen-Walliser recently told Car and Driver magazine. ” he said. Wealthy consumers “are only considering luxury cars with internal combustion engines,” the executive claimed.
In 2020, Bentley announced plans to make its entire lineup plug-in hybrid by 2026 and fully electric by 2030. Bentley says the luxury automaker’s first electric vehicle is expected to roll off the assembly line in 2025 in 2022.
Following the change in plans, Bentley is reviewing its lineup and moving to a plug-in hybrid V-8 engine to replace the previous W-12 engine. According to Walliser, the W-12 engine will not be revived and will be gone forever. The automaker’s first EV is expected to debut in 2026 and be released on the market in 2027.
Walliser pointed out that Bentley is too small an automaker to afford to offer both ICE and EV versions of the same car at the same time, as Mercedes and BMW do. Plug-in hybrids make sense and are more than just a new bridging technology for executives.
The executive isn’t committing to Bentley offering only plug-in hybrids, but is bullish on electric fuels. Walliser was an executive at Bentley’s sister company Porsche before being named CEO of the luxury automaker in July.
Walliser said Bentley may continue to produce non-hybrid gasoline cars, but only in limited production models.
Bentley’s main competitor, Rolls-Royce, is doubling down on EVs. The luxury rival has already launched its first electric vehicle, known as the Specter, and an electric SUV and sedan are expected to arrive in 2027 and 2028, respectively. Rolls-Royce has pledged to introduce fully electric vehicles by 2030 and remains committed to its plans.
