Bentley’s First EV Spied Looking Large And In Charge

We’re about to cross another name off the list of automakers without an electric car in their portfolios. Bentley’s inaugural EV will premiere later this year, and in the meantime, prototype testing is in full swing at the Nürburgring. It’s by far our best look yet at the upcoming SUV, positioned below the Bentayga in terms of size. However, it’ll still be nearly five meters (196.8 inches) long, so the “Urban SUV” nickname feels a bit forced.

Although it’s fully cloaked in camouflage, the prototype’s shape reveals a more compact footprint than the Bentayga. How much of last year’s EXP 15 Design Vision Concept is hiding beneath the disguise is hard to tell at this stage, but the electric SUV appears more modern than Crewe’s conventionally powered luxobarge. Then again, that’s hardly surprising, considering the Bentayga is getting long in the tooth, having been around since 2015.

While some high-end brands are getting cold feet about launching electric vehicles, Bentley isn’t backing away from dipping its toes into the EV pool. The new SUV is due by the end of the year, and it won’t be reengineered to accommodate combustion engines. That’s not even technically possible, since the PPE architecture was developed strictly for zero-emission applications.

An educated guess suggests there will be some commonalities with the similarly sized Porsche Cayenne Electric, albeit with comfort and luxury dialed up a notch. We’ve previously learned it’ll be among the fastest-charging EVs, which makes sense, considering its Zuffenhausen cousin maxes out at 400 kW.

As a refresher, the Cayenne needs less than 16 minutes to go from 10 to 80 percent in ideal charging conditions. Just 10 minutes of charging enables 202 miles (325 kilometers) of range in the WLTP cycle. As with the Porsche, it would make sense for Bentley to offer the electric SUV with a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive setup as standard. Power? A four-digit figure is highly plausible, given that a Cayenne Turbo has 1,140 hp on tap.

Who’s the electric Bentley for? Chairman and CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser has already expressed the company’s intent to attract new customers while continuing to cater to its traditional clientele with gasoline and plug-in hybrid models. Vehicles with combustion engines will continue well into the next decade, with a second-generation Bentayga set to arrive in the coming years with a plug-in hybrid setup.

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Source: Bentley

Motor1’s Take: Bentley has reason to be confident that its first EV will do well, at least in the United States. Internal studies conducted in Miami and Los Angeles showed that eight out of ten people would buy the so-called Urban SUV.

But the vehicle’s main selling point won’t be its electric drivetrain, but rather that it is the “next Bentley,” according to Mike Rocco, CEO of Bentley North America.