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Bentley Hints at All-Electric Future as Company Shifts Towards Sustainability

As the pandemic has devastated the auto industry, many CEOs have come forward in praise of electrification, claiming that the push towards sustainability will help keep their legacy afloat. Now, Bentley has joined the ranks of Volvo, GM, and VW as a company striving towards a sustainable and eco-friendly future.

Bentley’s CEO, Adrian Hallmark, told Autocar of his new vision for the company, just weeks after they shut-down a UK factory and laid-off 1,000 employees. He says that, “The key to success is both flexibility: we have to be innovative and face up to new realities. Secondly, cash. In closing down for Covid-19, we predicted three months without any revenue and prepared for that, and we won’t be far off that.”

All of our plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles are full steam ahead. We and the industry may see this as a natural accelerator to green technologies. If you have to prioritize, where do you place your bets? More horsepower or more cell technology? The obvious answer is the latter.

Unfortunately, Bentley had to make some tough calls while adapting to the changing market. The benefit of their smaller size is that they could now move more nimbly to change their product line to a forward thinking one.

They showed off a concept last year that outlined what a Bentley EV would look like, the EXP 100 GT. It was a beautiful design, with four motors, combined for a 1,340 horsepower and 1,100 lb-ft of torque. It would zooms to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds, and have a 186 mph top speed. Not only that, but its 435-mile range impressed as well, and had a very impressive charging rate of 15 minutes to %80.

As we know, EVs can not only get up and go faster, but they also allow for much smoother idle and lower engine noise, which would make  a fantastic Bentley. All said, the future still burns bright for the UK’s luxury car maker, even if they’re no longer producing 6.75L V8s.

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