Bentley Enters The Electric Era With Its First Fully Electric Model, The Torcal

For 107 years, Bentley has built cars that announce themselves, so an electric one that could, in theory, glide about in silence feels like a slightly awkward concept. Yet on 23 September in London, Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, the company’s chairman and CEO, unveiled the Torcal, its first fully electric model and its fourth model line, and declared it “one of the best Bentleys ever.” Chief executives say this sort of thing routinely. What is unusual is that, having read the specification carefully, I am inclined to let him have it.

Start with the shape. The Torcal is a low, sleek SUV, designed at Crewe under Robin Page, who explains that a car is read in four stages: proportion, graphics, surfaces and detail. The long wheelbase and short overhangs deliver what Bentley calls “upright elegance,” the illuminated diamond grille echoes the Continental T, and the rear haunches create what the designers call a “resting beast.” It is five metres long, making it the shortest four-door in the range, yet it still carries a 460-litre boot and a further 90 litres at the front.

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Then the numbers, which are ridiculous. The core Torcal produces 821 PS and 1,194 Nm, reaching 60mph in 3.3 seconds and a top speed of 155mph. The S is where it gets serious: 888 PS and 1,350 Nm with Launch Control active, 60mph in 2.8 seconds, and 162mph flat out. That torque figure is the highest of any Bentley ever made. Bentley says it stopped there deliberately, because most customers find more extreme acceleration uncomfortable, which is a sentence I never expected to type about a car.

Underneath sit two permanent magnet synchronous motors, front and rear, with an open differential at the front and a locking differential at the rear. The battery is a 113 kWh net unit made of 192 lithium-ion pouch cells running at 800 volts, with a 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty. Range is up to 375 miles (600km) on the WLTP cycle, and at 400 kW you can add roughly 100 miles in seven minutes.

The chassis is the cleverest part. This is Bentley’s first fully active suspension, with adaptive two-valve dampers that can each be raised or lowered independently and instantly, and which do away with anti-roll bars altogether. Electronic all-wheel steering, with rear angles up to five degrees, shrinks the turning circle to 11.1 metres. Brakes are iron as standard, at 420mm front and 370mm rear, or you can upgrade to carbon silicon carbide ceramics with 440mm front discs, which Bentley says are jointly the largest in the world. Bentley reckons the result is as comfortable as a Flying Spur and as dynamic as a Continental GT Speed. That is a big claim, but it is Bentley’s, not mine.

Then there is the noise. Rather than piping in a synthetic engine note, Bentley recorded the rhythm of its 6¾ litre V8 and rebuilt it with real drums, viola and bass guitar, imperfections included, calling the result the Bentley Dynamic Symphony. The indicator click is a hammer striking leather, recorded in Bentley’s upholstery workshops, and the touchscreen chime is a crystal glass. If you prefer silence, you can switch it all off.

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The cabin is where Crewe shows off. The seats offer 16-way adjustment, heating, ventilation and massage, with optional Postural Adjust and Smart Seat Climate, and the three-occupant rear seat has a power fold for the first time in a Bentley. The fabric is the world’s first 100% Merino wool automotive textile, developed with Somerset weavers Fox Brothers and certified to the Responsible Wool Standard. Ombré Walnut is built from up to 1,000 layers of walnut off-cuts and recycled paper, and Sunburst Aluminium reinterprets the engine-turned dashboards of old. There are curved OLED screens, facial recognition, an augmented reality head-up display, 25 radars, sensors and cameras, four self-opening powered doors and a Frosted Diamond switchable-glass sunroof. If you want more sound, the Naim system delivers 1,780 watts through 28 speakers, complete with seat shakers.

And should you tire of driving, four Experience Modes (Bentley, Comfort, Sport and Refresh) change the light, sound, climate and airflow to suit your mood. Even the emblem is new, with the Torcal the first to wear Bentley’s redesigned wings. So is it a proper Bentley? The evidence says yes: handcrafted, absurdly quick and ludicrously well finished. The remaining question is whether it feels like one on the road, and that I’ll only know when I’ve driven it.