British luxury carmaker Bentley Motors has launched its first fully electric vehicle, testing wealthy buyers’ appetite for going electric as it seeks to take on the likes of Italy’s Ferrari.
The all-new Torcal represents Bentley’s first fully electric car in the company’s 107-year history and becomes the brand’s fourth model, alongside the Continental GT, Flying Spur and Bentayga.
The car was designed and engineered at the company’s manufacturing site in Crewe in northwest England.
It comes just three months after Ferrari’s divisive launch of its first fully electric car, with analysts partly attributing some of the negative reaction to “design hate.” The Luce model, Ferrari’s first-ever five-seater car, marked a stark shift in appearance from the iconic brand’s traditional sports cars.
A handout image of the Bentley Torcal as it makes its global debut.
Bentley Motors
Frank-Steffen Walliser, chairman and CEO of Bentley Motors, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday that the Torcal “sits also from the price band at the entry level for Bentley and we have received already very positive reactions from all markets.”
The Torcal was unveiled at an event in London on Wednesday evening. The model has a range of up to 600 kilometers and can reach 60 miles per hour in just under three seconds.
Its starting price is £173,000 (around $229,000), significantly less than Ferrari’s Luce, which was priced at 550,000 euros (roughly $626,000).
Asked whether Bentley had learned any lessons from the launch of the Luce, Walliser said: “No, not really, because you know the car industry is very long term, the development and engineering of the cars takes years. This is a four-year cycle, so you cannot just react on anything a competitor is doing.”
He added: “We see ongoing acceptance, I would say, for the electric cars. There is also more knowledge on the customers and our clients, they were very much aware on what the technology can do.”
Other sports car manufacturers, notably Porsche and Lamborghini, have scaled back on plans to launch their own EVs due to weak demand.
Bentley’s Walliser said wealthy buyers’ acceptance of going electric is “growing,” however, saying the company sought to make what he described as a “true Bentley” by focusing on issues such as the design, driving behavior and soundscape.
