Bentley pushes back target of all-electric luxury cars to 2035

LONDON – British luxury carmaker Bentley said that it was pushing back its target of building only 100 percent electric models by five years, until 2035.
Four years after outlining its strategy of being fully electric by 2030, Bentley CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser said the company was “maintaining our aim of a decarbonised future, including offering only fully electric cars from 2035”.
Bentley, which is part of Germany’s Volkswagen group, also said in a statement that its first fully electric luxury car, an SUV, would be launched in 2026.
The car will be made at its historic site in Crewe, central England, where it employs 4,000 people and conducts all of its activities including design, R&D and production.
The new model will compete against other luxury electric vehicles already on the market like the powerful EQS saloon from Mercedes, BMW’s i7 and Audi’s E-tron.
It will also go up against the Spectre coupe, the first electric model from BMW-owned Rolls-Royce, which plans to stop building combustion vehicles by the end of 2030.
And China’s Hongqi (“red flag”), a brand known historically for transporting high-ranking officials including Mao Zedong, plans to launch around ten luxury electric models in Europe over the next five years.