Half of prelaunch Torcal orders come from new or returning Bentley customers
Bentley unveiled the Torcal at an event in London on Wednesday, marking a milestone for the 107-year-old British marque. The sport-utility vehicle is named after a Spanish mountain range, with the label also nodding to the torque for which electric vehicles are known.
Walliser, who leads Bentley under Volkswagen ownership, said the Torcal ranked among the most important models in the brand’s 107-year history and would serve as a blueprint for future models. The launch comes weeks after Range Rover unveiled its own debut EV at a starting price equivalent to around $205,000.
The Torcal will sit at the more affordable end of Bentley’s product portfolio, similar to the Bentayga, a larger SUV named after another Spanish mountain range that comes in combustion-engine and hybrid variants. Bentley expects the new EV to be used as an everyday drive rather than reserved for special occasions, Walliser said, adding that the company’s well-heeled customers often already own an EV from another brand.
“I kick out the other one that is not a Bentley and replace it with this car,” Walliser said, describing how he expected existing customers to add the Torcal to their garages.
Around half of the prelaunch orders for the car came from customers who are new or returning to the brand, Walliser said, with a younger skew than the typical Bentley buyer. The company declined to say how many Torcals it expects to sell, after years of costly revisions to manufacturers’ anticipated EV sales.
“All predictions have been wrong so flexibility is key,” Walliser said.
The Torcal retains a prominent front grille — a feature long associated with British luxury cars — even though EVs do not have the large internal combustion engine that such a panel was originally designed to cool. The grille is filled with illuminated diamond shapes, a longstanding motif in Bentley’s designs. To address the absence of engine noise, the company worked with musicians to imitate the rumble of its V8 engines using traditional Western percussion instruments.
Bentley’s investment in the EV project weighed on its bottom line. The brand’s operating margin — a key measure of performance for automakers — fell to 8.3% last year, having exceeded 20% in 2022 and 2023. The investment included a $465 million upgrade of Bentley’s factory in Crewe, England.
European luxury automakers have taken different approaches to EVs. Brands that trade on comfort and aristocratic pedigree, such as Rolls-Royce and Bentley, have invested heavily. More performance-oriented marques, including Aston Martin, McLaren and Lamborghini, have said they do not see a market.
“We’ll do an EV when our customers ask us for one, and they’re not asking us,” McLaren Group CEO Nick Collins said in an interview this month.
The notable exception in the performance segment is Ferrari, which unveiled a debut EV in May. The car’s glass-heavy appearance, strikingly different from a traditional Ferrari, triggered a global social-media storm.
The luxury EV launches come as some of Europe’s most prestigious brands battle a range of challenges around the world. Sales in China, once the top market for many luxury badges, have collapsed, and U.S. tariffs have sapped profit. Some early EV investments have not panned out, notably at Porsche, which is also owned by Volkswagen.
Bentley remains a relatively profitable part of the Volkswagen Group, giving it some protection from the cuts under way at the world’s second-largest automaker, including more than 100,000 job losses.
“There’s a very simple rule at Volkswagen: If you’re successful then you’re kind of immune,” Walliser said.