2025 Bentley EV to be produced at brand’s Crewe home; 5 electric luxury cars in total over 5 years

January 26, 2022February 14, 2022 Toby Hagon 2868 Views Bentley

Bentley has confirmed its first electric vehicle will be manufactured in 2025 at its traditional home of Crewe in the United Kingdom.

It will be followed by at least one new EV each year until 2029, transitioning the entire Bentley family to battery electric vehicles.

The yet-to-be-named electric luxury vehicle will be the first of a family of EVs as Bentley shifts to an all battery electric range by 2030.

The new Bentley EVs will benefit from a promised £2.5 billion ($4.7 billion) investment “in sustainability over the next 10 years”.

Bentley chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark says “the world is changing and we need to play our part in neutralising our environmental impact”.

Bentley’s Beyond100 strategy will result in an all-electric lineup by 2030, with the luxury brand’s first BEV arriving in 2025 and at least one EV each year, creating a family of five electric Bentleys

“That means delivering on our aim to be end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030, and reaffirming our role as the leader in sustainable luxury mobility.”

Rival Rolls-Royce is poised to beat Bentley to the EV game, promising to produce the Spectre from late 2023.

Between them, the two giants of the uber luxury space – Rolls-Royce is owned by BMW and Bentley is owned by Volkswagen – are gearing up to radically shift the market.

Traditionally each has relied on big capacity V8 and 12-cylinder engines, but by the end of the decade Bentley and Rolls-Royce say they will only be manufacturing electric vehicles.

There could also be competition from the upcoming Mercedes-Benz EQS that arrives in Australia within months.

Audi Grandsphere concept — The production version of the Audi Grandsphere is expected to provide the basis for Bentley’s first EV in 2025

Details have not been released about the first Bentley EV, but it’s expected to share key electrical components with an upcoming Audi flagship EV based on the Grandsphere concept.

For Bentley, the new 2025 EV is part of the Beyond100 strategy that sets foundation for the brand’s second century in business.

“Beyond100 is the boldest plan in Bentley’s illustrious history, and in the luxury segment,” says Hallmark.

“It’s an ambitious and credible roadmap to carbon neutrality of our total business system, including the shift to 100 percent BEV in just eight years.

Bentley is promising a £2.5 billion investment in sustainability over the next 10 years. It will include new manufacturing facilities to produce the brand’s first EV in Crewe in 2025

“Our aim is to become the benchmark not just for luxury cars or sustainable credentials but the entire scope of our operations. Securing production of our first BEV in Crewe is a milestone moment for Bentley, and the UK, as we plan for a long-term sustainable future in Crewe.”

As with Rolls-Royce, the shift to EV is likely to nicely suit the brand. Electric motors provide big performance and effortless pulling power with refinement a petrol engine can’t get close to.

But in the lead-up to the arrival of the five new electric vehicles, Bentley is also readying more plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).

Bentley already sells the Bentayga PHEV and will soon start selling the Flying Spur PHEV, each utilising componentry from within the Volkswagen Group.

Bentley says there will be five more PHEVs over the coming years and that it expects 20 percent of its global sales to be plug-in hybrids in 2022.