Bentley CEO, Adrian Hallmark, recently hinted that the automaker's first electric vehicle will pack a punch, and might produce a massive 1,044kW of power.
The EV, which is set to arrive in 2025, would have a very fast acceleration if this is the case. Hallmark suggested that the car could be capable of hitting 60mph (96km/h) in just 1.5 seconds.
"If we're 650 bhp (485kW) now with GT Speed, we will be double that with the BEV,” says Hallmark. "But from a 0 to 60 mph (0-96km/h) point of view, there are diminishing returns. The problem is, it's uncomfortable. And then it just becomes nauseous."
To avoid this issue, Bentley will offer the EV with different acceleration modes. Hallmark indicated that the driver could adjust the acceleration level. "You can have 0-60 mph in 2.7 seconds. Or it can be switched to 1.5 seconds,” he says. “For us it would not be the brutality of acceleration that can define us.”
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Hallmark says a key feature of the car will be its “effortless overtaking performance”, particularly between speeds like 48-112 km/h and 48-241 km/h.
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The EV will be built on the VW Group’s Premium Performance Electric (PPE) platform, which also underpins the Audi Q6 E-Tron and Porsche Macan EV. But The Bentley CEO says that he doesn't want the cars too look like every other EV. "What we will not do is try and make them look like electric cars," he says.
The automaker wants to be purely making electric vehicles by 2030, meaning that multiple models are on their way. "In terms of price point, one of the EVs will be more in that Mulsanne price range than anything that we have today. It has to be," says Hallmark.
In a previous interview, in 2021, Hallmark said "if you're not in SUVs, you're nowhere."
Before Bentley's first EV does arrive, however, the automaker intends to offer hybrid versions of every single model in its current lineup. Several of these have already been made or are underway, including a PHEV version of the Continental GT.
