Bentley is to delay going fully electric by five years to 2035 as it slams the brakes on its drive to an electrified future, it confirmed on Thursday. And it also announced that its first EV due to be unveiled in 2026 will no longer be a sleek electric grand tourer GT that was first hinted - instead, it will be a large urban SUV. In a blow to both it – and the government's – future electric car ambitions, Bentley says current falling demand for EVs and a lack of a suitable public charging infrastructure is to blame for the delay.
Bentley backs out of 2030 electric promise: The iconic British brand previously said it would ditch petrol engines at the end of the decade but has postponed its ambitions due to a decline in EV demand and public charging It is almost four years to the date that Bentley made its bold announcement that it would turn its back on the internal combustion engine in 2030 after relying on it for 111 years. On 5 November 2020, it said it would lead the market by 'reinventing the company and becoming the world's benchmark luxury car business' in an electric future from the end of the decade. However, today, it confirmed it will not deliver on this promise until five years later than originally planned.
To plug the gap to 2035, Bentley says it is to boost production and extend the life-cycle of petrol-electric plug-in hybrid models or plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). It says beyond the new Crewe-built electric SUV there will be a new model launched every year unti.