The PPE platform allows for a range of layouts, including single- and twin-motor options, the latter offering all-wheel drive. It can also accept a range of battery sizes and motor types, while its 800V architecture enables ultra-fast charging.
Bentley design chief Robin Page has already said the new model will retain many of the firm’s historic design cues while featuring a new front-end design to reflect the lack of a combustion engine. Extensive offerings from Bentley’s Mulliner customisation division are also likely to be key to making the model a true luxury car.
Notably, the decision to produce an ‘urban SUV’ distances Bentley’s first EV from new electric rivals such as the Rolls-Royce Spectre saloon.
Crewe development key to future line-up
The Beyond100+ business plan also includes what Bentley has termed a “fundamental reinvention” of the manufacturing infrastructure at its long-running Crewe plant. This will “secure” its future as the home of “the next generation of products”.
The new investment programme in the 85-year-old site will, Bentley says, be largely self-funded. It will include a new design centre, paint shop and EV assembly line, which, the firm claims, will set new benchmarks in “digital, flexible and high-value manufacturing operations”. Bentley says the aim is to turn the plant into a “dream factory” for its fully electric future.
According to Bentley, all of the new vehicles that will be produced between 2026 and 2035 will be “designed and developed” in Crewe – although that leaves open the possibility that some models could be manufactured, in whole or part, at another VW Group site. Currently, all of the firm’s models are assembled in Crewe, although bodies for the Continental and Bentayga are produced elsewhere.
While the initial Beyond100 plan called for five EVs in five years from 2025 until 2030, Bentley has not confirmed how many of the 10 models due between 2026 and 2030 will be EVs and how many will be plug-in hybrids. Rabe has, however, ruled out offering cars with a choice of PHEV or EV powertrains. He said: “That would be the wrong answer for a luxury platform. The packaging demands are so different that in the luxury segment you would never reach the optimum if you did that. If we did that, it would not be the best, and we want to do the best in all we do.”