Bentley’s electric SUV is the dawn of a new design direction

Bentley’s first electric model will herald a new design direction inside and out for the British brand when it’s unveiled late next year. 

A smaller luxury SUV sibling to the petrol-powered Bentayga will hit the roads during the first half of 2027, and Bentley CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser told Auto Express that while the styling will not be completely revolutionary, it is likely to surprise. 

“A new car should take a little bit of time; if you like it immediately, it loses the excitement relatively quickly,” said Walliser. “If it needs a little bit of time to get familiar with it from different angles, and after a year you are still excited to see different things, then it went right.”

Although described as a bigger step than previous new models from the brand, the “first part of the transition of Bentley” won’t be a complete reinvention. He continued: “People should recognise the Bentley behind it; it should make steps, but keep the DNA so you recognise some of the elements of Bentleys you have seen in the past.”

Walliser said the new car’s styling direction will be adopted by the replacements for the existing Bentayga, Flying Spur and Continental GT as they are introduced later in the decade, and the electric model will also see the arrival of a new, more tech-laden interior. Bentley’s boss revealed that the cabin will be a big step forward in terms of the driver interface and “everything you can see and touch”. There won’t be a complete purge on buttons, although a new touchscreen system will allow more tech to be packaged. 

“With the technology, you have more possibilities so you need a user interface that can handle it,” he said. “With Bentley, nobody is pushing to get all of the buttons out of the car; some buttons cannot be replaced by a touchscreen, like adjusting the temperature, the seats or the mirrors. A touchscreen is helpful for the navigation system, for example, but you don’t want to have a lot of buttons to navigate through; it must be direct access and easy to understand.” 

Bentley's battery and charging capabilities

Although Walliser wouldn’t be drawn on the pricing, range or battery technology underpinning the new sub-five-metre SUV, he did reveal that it will be “north of 100kW”, which is a powertrain likely to be shared with the new electric Porsche Cayenne coming this year. He did, though, emphasise the importance of charging speed, with a 10-80% battery charge target of less than 20 minutes. 

“We’re aiming for the Champions League of charging,” he declared, with speeds of 270kW likely to be capable where ultra-fast charging infrastructure is available.

The new electric Bentley will be built in the UK and use the PPE platform also being deployed by fellow Volkswagen Group brands Porsche and Audi. The brand has confirmed that it won’t be mixing electric and ICE or hybrid powertrains on the same model platforms, ruling out a plug-in hybrid version of the new SUV.

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