Bentley’s First EV to be Revealed in 2026 as a “Luxury Urban SUV”

Bentley has announced an evolution of its “Beyond100” strategy, which will see the marque introduce a first full battery-electric car that it will reveal in 2026.

Now known as “Beyond100+”, the new strategy lays out a path for Bentley from now until 2035. That’s the date at which it plans to become an exclusively electric vehicle manufacturer, and it’s five years later than in the original Beyond100 plan as revealed by former chairman Adrian Hallmark in 2020.

The path to this goal will begin in 2026 with the launch of an all-new, fully electric vehicle that will be designed, developed, and manufactured at Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe.

Naturally, at this very early stage, little is known about the new vehicle but Bentley refers to it as the “world’s first true Luxury Urban SUV”.

A stylised side view of the vehicle appears to show a Bentayga-like profile, but both lower and considerably shorter than the company’s first SUV, and it’s likely to come in at about the size of the Audi Q6 and Porsche Macan EV. Indeed it wouldn’t be a surprise to see it use the same Volkswagen Group “Premium Platform Electric” (PPE) underpinnings and have similar battery and motor options.

Following the launch of the currently unnamed vehicle, Bentley will launch a new plug-in hybrid or battery-electric vehicle every year through to 2035 — whereupon the production of combustion-engined models will cease entirely.

Having already achieved a goal of becoming the first carbon-neutral luxury car factory in the UK, Bentley continues to invest in the Crewe facility with a new design centre, paint shop, and the upcoming BEV assembly line. Its Beyond100+ target is to become “end-to-end” carbon neutral, with no net CO2 emissions from the supply chain to the cars on the road — and even their disposal.

Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, chairman and CEO of Bentley Motors, said:

“Four years almost to the day that Bentley initially outlined its Beyond100 strategy, we adapt to today’s economic, market and legislative environment to initiate a major transformative phase for tomorrow. Beyond100+ becomes our guiding light as we extend our ambitions beyond 2030, while maintaining our aim of a decarbonised 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.”