The first electric Bentley is slowly approaching. The carmaker will build a dream factory for him

“The first Bentley electric will be produced in Crew from the end of 2025,” the head of the British car manufacturer Adrian Hallmark said at a virtual press conference on Wednesday. He has already added the already well-known information that the first fully electric Bentley will arrive in three years with the place of production. Although the traditional manufacturer gets rid of the iconic twelve-cylinder petrol engines, not the equally iconic place of birth.

Precisely because of the production of electric cars, a production line called Dream Factory is to be built in Crewe, translated as “dream factory”. This is part of a planned £ 2.5 billion investment that Bentley intends to invest in electromobility over the next ten years. In 2030, there will be no other than an electric Bentley on the market, it is also known from the past that in the same time horizon, the carmaker is to be carbon neutral, throughout the supply chain.

So far, imaginable brands keep the details of the upcoming electric car to themselves. However, according to them, it should be a car that, in the spirit of Bentley traditions, will not be small, but large, fast, sporty and luxurious. Hallmark used the English term “game changer” in connection with it, meaning the one that changes the established rules. He also used the example of the first generation Continental GT, which according to him completely changed the segment of luxury large coupes. It was previously speculated that the first electric Bentley would be an SUV.

Peter Bosch, who is head of production at Bentley, has at least indicated that the novelty will benefit from falling under the wings of Audi. This would correspond to the use of the forthcoming modular electrical platform PPE, industry Automotive News Europe magazine then states that it could be a technically and technologically related production version of the car the Audi Grandsphere concept. After all, in Hanover, where the new electric Audi is to be produced, the unpainted bodies of the new Bentley are also to be created, which will then travel to Crew.

In any case, since 2025, Bentley wants to launch one electric car each year and gradually replace the current portfolio. Alain Favey, head of sales and marketing, says the brand’s customers are ready for electromobility, and in 2030, many of them could be seen behind the wheel of an emission-free car. Bentley is then gradually preparing plug-in hybrids for the advent of electromobility.

By 2024, all available model lines will be connected to the socket. Today, such a version is offered on the Bentayga SUV, where it accounted for a fifth of last year, and now also on the Flying Spur limousine. A total of five plug-in hybrids should be added to the offer this year, and the plug-in versions should take care of a fifth of Bentley’s total sales. Last year, the brand sold a record 14,659 cars, 31 percent more than in 2020.

Although Bentley announced complete electrification more than a year ago, the first electric car will be introduced relatively late. For example, Porsche has been selling a Taycan sedan or station wagon for some time, and the first electric Rolls-Royce will have its premiere next year. The Italians are also preparing to enter the world of electric cars. Ferrari has promised to introduce its first electric car by 2025, Maserati will probably introduce its first electric car this year or next, and Lamborghini promises it at the end of the current decade. It should be an SUV.

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