The Volkswagen Group ultra-luxury brand Bentley appears to have cooled even more on EVs.
As its CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser recently told Car and Driver "what we see in the luxury market right now (is that) people reject electric cars." Wealthy consumers "consider luxury cars only with a combustion engine," the executive claimed.
In 2020, Bentley laid out plans to make its entire lineup plug-in hybrids by 2026 and all-electric by 2030. The luxury automaker's first EV was going to roll off the assembly line in 2025, according to Bentley in 2022.
After a change of plans, Bentley's in the process of turning over its lineup and moving to plug-in hybrid V-8s replacing the former W-12 engine. The W-12 engine won't be revived and is dead for good, according to Walliser. The automaker's first EV is now set to debut in 2026 with a market arrival in 2027.
Walliser noted that Bentley is too small an automaker to afford simultaneous ICE and EV versions of the same car as Mercedes and BMW have been doing. Plug-in hybrids make sense and are more than a novel bridging technology in the executive's eyes.
While the executive won't commit to a Bentley offering only plug-in hybrids, he's bullish on e-fuels. Walliser was an executive at Bentley's sister company Porsche before being named CEO of the luxury automaker in July.
Bentley may continue producing non-hybrid gasoline cars, though those might be limited-production models only, according to Walliser.
Bentley's main competitor Rolls-Royce is doubling down on EVs. The luxury rival already launched its first EV known as the Spectre, and an electric SUV and sedan are set to arrive in 2027 and 2028 respectively. Rolls-Royce committed to go all-electric by 2030 and remains steadfast with that plan.
