The British luxury car brand, owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, has postponed by five years its switch, now scheduled for 2035, to producing only 100% electric models. According to its CEO, this decision is dictated by the current lack of appetite among luxury customers for such models.
The appetite for electric vehicles among luxury customers is not yet strong enough to dedicate itself exclusively to them, according to Bentley‘s management.
The English brand, which belongs to the German Volkswagen group, prefers to wait until the time is right to launch its all-electric program.
It has just announced the replacement of its initial Beyond100 plan, unveiled at the beginning of 2022, by a second one, dubbed Beyond100+.
The first plan called for all vehicles to go 100% electric by 2030, meaning that hybrid and combustion-powered models would disappear from the catalog…
New deadline: 2035
The new plan extends the deadline to 2035.
“Almost four years after Bentley outlined its Beyond100 strategy, we are adapting to today’s economic, commercial and legislative environment to embark on a major transformation phase for tomorrow,” explained Bentley CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser in a statement on November 7. Beyond100+ becomes our common thread as we extend our ambitions beyond 2030, while maintaining our focus on a decarbonized future, including offering only fully electric cars from 2035, and reinforcing our credentials as the British creator of extraordinary cars for over a century and beyond.”
Bentley confirms, however, that the first of the five 100% electric models initially planned for 2030 will be released in 2026.
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