Bentley has dropped its target of becoming an all-electric brand by 2030, confirming that combustion and hybrid models will remain in production into the next decade. The change arrives alongside the September 2026 reveal of the Torcal, Bentley’s first fully electric model and a 2028-model-year SUV.

Chief Executive Officer Frank-Steffan Walliser said the electrification roadmap Bentley announced in 2020 no longer fits the market. According to Autocar, he pointed to shifting regulations and cooling demand for luxury electric vehicles as factors behind the change.

Bentley’s electric strategy becomes more flexible

Bentley’s revised Beyond100+ strategy no longer relies on a fixed 2030 deadline. Instead, the automaker plans to build electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the same production lines, allowing output to follow customer demand.

The updated plan now targets a fully electric portfolio by 2035, while plug-in hybrids will remain available alongside battery-powered models for longer than Bentley originally expected. Walliser said the company needs more flexibility as regulations and market conditions continue to change.

The shift follows a delay of about a year for the Torcal, with market uncertainty, changing rules and slower-than-expected growth in high-end EV demand all contributing to the revised timing. Bentley is taking a similar approach to other luxury brands, including Rolls-Royce, which has also stepped back from its own 2030 all-EV objective.

Torcal powertrain and performance

The Torcal remains a dedicated electric model rather than a vehicle designed to accept multiple powertrains. It uses a 113-kWh battery, an 800-volt electrical architecture and rapid DC charging.

The standard version produces 810 horsepower. The Torcal S raises the output to as much as 876 horsepower and can reach 60 mph in a claimed 2.8 seconds.

Bentley has said it will not convert the Torcal to combustion power, and Walliser confirmed that a hybrid Torcal is not planned. Its dedicated EV platform is intended to preserve the model’s identity as a battery-electric SUV.

When will the Bentley Torcal go on sale?

Bentley says the Torcal will go on sale in the United States early next year, following its September 2026 reveal. Additional Bentley EVs are not expected until the start of the next decade. Future models are widely expected to use a version of Volkswagen Group’s upcoming SSP architecture rather than one of the company’s current platforms.

That extended gap between Bentley’s first and second EVs illustrates the scale of the strategy change. Gas-powered and hybrid Bentleys will continue down the same production lines well into the next decade, giving the brand time to adjust its mix as luxury-car buyers decide how quickly they want to move away from combustion power.