Bentley Bentayga, GT & Mulsanne plug-in hybrids with V6 engine on the way

The entire Bentley range – Bentayga, Continental GT and Mulsanne – will get a plug-in hybrid option with a petrol V6 in the next few years.

The Bentley range is not exactly underpowered and is mainly petrol-engined. Which means the stuff of taxation – CO2 emissions – is, to say the least, a bit on the high side. But Bentley has a plan.

You may be forgiven for thinking Bentley will be going to the dark side across its range by fitting diesel engines to Bentley’s which aren’t Bentaygas, but you’d be wrong. The plan is plug-in hybrids, which is an eminently sensible route to take, and a route we though made more sense than the Bentayga Diesel.

Speaking to the 2017 Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, Bentley boss Wolfgang Duerheimer revealed he’s a big fan of plug-in hybrids, and plans to have a plug-in hybrid option for every model in the Bentley range in the next few years.

Duerheimer said:

PHEV sometimes is mentioned as a transitional technology — it will be out of our way pretty soon. From my point of view, plug-in hybrid technology provides the best of two worlds. To cover long distances and to make it from one city to another I think the combustion engine will follow us for a long time.

From Bentley’s point of view, a plug-in hybrid will allow Bentley owners to drive as an EV in cities – which looks likely to be a legal necessity in many cities in the coming years – but still allow long-range travel with the petrol engine. It will also boost performance.

We already knew the Bentley Bentayga is getting a plug-in hybrid next year, and Duerheimer has told Automotive News that the next Continental GT – due later this year – will be revealed with a W12, but the subsequent reveal will be the PHEV – before the V8.

Duerheimer also revealed the Bentley plug-in hybrid would use a V6 petrol engine – which, we assume, will be purloined from Porsche – and deliver the same power as the V8, which means at least 500bhp.