Bentley’s first EV won’t be a ‘spaceship’

When Bentley drops its first-ever EV, don’t expect another soulless battery box.

That’s straight from the mouth of Bentley’s sales and marketing exec and board member, Christophe Georges, who says the brand’s debut electric vehicle will do more than move silently – it’ll move the needle, especially for old-school buyers still clinging to petrol like it’s a security blanket.

In short, Bentley’s aim is to make going electric feel less like a compromise and more like a privilege.

And after 25 years at Bentley, the Frenchman knows his crowd.

Christophe Georges is confident the brand’s mysterious first EV won’t just lure fresh faces – it’ll tick the boxes that matter most to luxury car buyers: exclusivity, cachet, and resale value that doesn’t nosedive.

But first and foremost, the new exterior design will be crucial.

“Design is always one of the key motivations to buy a car and this BEV [battery electric vehicle] will be something much more progressive but still retaining all the Bentley design DNA,” said Georges.

“It’s not going to be a spaceship,” he cautioned – a gentle reminder that Bentley won’t be tossing out its design rulebook just because there’s a battery under the bonnet.

“It's going to be a proper, cool urban SUV. But a big evolution in our design, if I can say this way,” he added.

Oh, and it’ll be very expensive. Naturally.

“As Bentley we are not having a strategy to go down market. That’s the first statement. We have a Bentley position in the marketplace and this is what we will continue to have, and we are not going to go much below.

“However, it’s still a smaller car than Bentayga and logically, it should sit just a little bit below, but you are going to have derivatives more expensive than Bentayga, so it will be kind of the same [price] positioning overall,” he said.

Indeed, Aussie buyers will need to brace their wallets as Bentley’s first electric SUV is expected to land somewhere between $400K and $650K, before the wizards at Mulliner start casting their spells. A custom paint job can easily add another $50K – and that’s before any interior upgrades are considered.

Bentley has previously described the new EV as the ‘world’s first true luxury urban SUV’. This sounds like marketing speak for “we’re aiming for Bond villain chic with a vegan twist”.

The reality won’t be known until 2026 when the vehicle is exposed (unless there’s a leak), but when asked to translate what the world’s first true luxury urban SUV actually means, Georges said emotion was vital.

“I believe if you want to be successful in the luxury sector, your product first has to be very emotional … if you spend this kind of money for a car, it’s because you want emotions.

“And electric cars have been seen by many as not being emotional enough.”

He insists the new Bentley EV will have emotion – though exactly how it plans to tug on your heartstrings remains a mystery. Will it hum sweet nothings through the speakers or just blow your mind with torque? Bentley’s keeping that card close to its quilted leather chest.

“So we are first of all taking the challenge for our BEV SUV to be emotional and to fit properly in the luxury sector,” insists the Bentley chief.

He also reckons the new EV won’t tank in value like a shattered smartphone, promising Bentley-level resale strength, not the typical EV depreciation cliff dive.

“When you buy a luxury product, usually you don’t want low residual values because in a way, in your perception, you buy a collectable item or something which will retain value moving forward.

“What BEV has seen so far, because of too much supply at one go and the market not responding so quickly, residual value went down quite quickly overall. Not for everybody, but overall as a global trend.

“And this is something on which we are going to be very focused, to make sure that our luxury BEV car will retain value the same way any other luxury product will do.

“So you are not going to have all obstacles you can currently see for the purchase of a BEV car. We want to remove them, working on them, and then launch a car. It is a very emotional, cool, new Bentley.”

Other juicy tidbits from the Bentley boardroom? Don’t expect the brand’s first EV to pull off an 800km range. This isn’t a Tesla Model Y Long Range – it’s a Bentley and priorities lie more with presence, pace and plushness than extreme efficiency.

“Charging infrastructure is quite an obstacle for some – not necessarily for us,” said Georges.

“Range will be more than adequate, but our customers usually do not drive long distance in one go. If they go from Florida to New York, they fly. They keep their car in Florida at home; they charge it at home. It’s not so much of a problem.

“As some say, the range extender we have is a plane.”

The ‘cool’ new urban SUV from Bentley is expected to pull in new customers from different (read: younger) demographics – expanding the brand’s vibe beyond the usual mature-aged luxury car loyalists.

“I would expect, because our current customers have several cars, I could see it as a great addition in their car portfolio. At the same time, I believe we can attract a different demographic and new customers as well with this product.

“And not only because it’s a different power train, but because the car will be very cool,” he said.

He added that removing the pain points of EV ownership was a key component the brand was tackling head on.

“So if you look at all current obstacles or negatives in the mindset of people thinking about EVs, this is what we have to remove, being in the luxury sector. Then we can properly focus on what this product will deliver.

“And it’s going to be extraordinary,” he concluded.

* Lead image generated by AI

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