Bentley Backtracks on All-Electric Pledge as Consumer Demand for BEVs Slows

Bentley responds to consumer slowdown in demand for battery-electric vehicles by kicking its pledge to become an electric-only manufacturer by the end of the decade 10 years down the road.

This means many of the iconic luxury British brand’s models will not be able to be sold in its domestic market assuming, and it is a assumption that’s looking less likely by the day, that the U.K.’s current government sticks to its ban on new internal-combustion-engine vehicles after 2030.

Bentley announces the plan by renaming its Beyond100 forward-looking business strategy Beyond100+, begging the question of whether there’ll be room for a ‘++’ extension at a later date.

Nonetheless, it says it is on course to unveil its first BEV in 2026 planned to be “the world’s first true Luxury Urban SUV.”

This model is designed, developed and to be produced at Bentley's headquarters in Crewe and will be the first of a new BEV or plug-in hybrid model to be launched every year until 2035, when the company says it will eventually become an exclusively BEV manufacturer.

Meanwhile, however, the brand says it is extending the lifecycle of its plug-in hybrid-electric models beyond 2030 in the shape of it new Ultra Performance V-8 PHEV currently employed in the Continental GT coupé, Convertible and Flying Spur models.

Frank-Steffen Walliser, chairman and CEO of Bentley Motors, says, “Four years almost to the day that Bentley initially outlined its Beyond100 strategy, we adapt to today’s economic, market and legislative environment to initiate a major transformative phase for tomorrow.”