Bentley going ALL electric, with the first Bentley BEV in 2025

Bentley announces it plans to be fully electric, and ‘carbon neutral’ by 2030, with plug-in hybrid Bentleys and a BEV by 2025.

Bentley is feeling bullish despite the Covid-related problems all car makers are facing, and are convinced they can transition from makers of 12-cylinder luxury cars to makers of electric luxury cars, and do it all in a ‘carbon neutral’ way. 

Setting out plans for the next decade of Bentley, Bentley say that all their cars will be electrified by 2026 – following the arrival of the first Bentley BEV in 2025 – and that by 2030 every Bentley will be a BEV, and that the 12-pot engine, and it’s V8 stablemate, will be consigned to history.

The first stage of the Bentley electric revolution will be the arrival of two plug-in hybrid Bentleys next year – which are likely to be the return of the PHEV Bentayga after its recent titivate, and a plug-in hybrid Continental – with the first BEV set to arrive in 2025.

Bentley aren’t saying what the new BEV will be, but it does seem likely it won’t be a million miles away from the EXP 100 GT Concept we saw last year.

Adrian Hallmark, Bentley boss, said:

Since 1919, Bentley has defined luxury grand touring. Being at the forefront of progress is part of our DNA – the original Bentley boys were pioneers and leaders. Now, as we look Beyond100, we will continue to lead by reinventing the company and becoming the world’s benchmark luxury car business.

But Bentley’s plans don’t just mean the end of ICE and a total takeover by BEVs by 2030, but in the process Bentley will “end-to-end” carbon neutral by 2030 – a big statement when you consider the enormous carbon footprint of battery production.

Bentley also say they are targeting a ‘diverse’ management population of 30 per cent by 2025, up from today’s under 20 per cent.

Although we have no idea how Bentley are defining ‘diverse’.