The name is Torcal. Bentley finally dropped it today, along with a teaser of the rear end. The full reveal hits on September 23. It is the brand’s first fully electric car. Always been gas, now electric. The range sits above 300 miles in this five-meter SUV. Details are scarce, but the promise is out there.
Fans saw this coming. Trademark filings earlier this year showed “Torcal” and “Barnato” registered in the UK and Europe. Barnato, named after that obsessive 1920s driver, was the favorite to win. Bentley picked Torcal instead.
Why? It’s geography mixed with engineering linguistics. Torcal references El Torcal de Antequera in Spain, a place of stacked limestone formations. But it also harks back to Latin, torquere, meaning to twist. The root of torque. A fitting nod for rotational force, even if there are no pistons twisting things anymore.
What It Looks Like
I was there at the secret UK reveal near HQ. What I saw was familiar. Too familiar? Maybe. It sits right next to the Bentayga in the family tree. The lineage is obvious, but slightly smaller. Same long hood, upright stance. The rear haunches are there, though perhaps not quite as resolved as the original SUV.
It still looks powerful. Attractive, too. A switchable glass sunroof. New lights. Look at that tease image again. The rear lights ditched the Bentayga’s ovals for a clean straight line. The roof drops back at the tail, a trick borrowed from EV designers to cut drag. Efficiency wins, again.
Front up, it gets bold. No radiator vents needed. Instead, a solid wall of illuminated crystals. Inspired by the Continental T? Possibly. It is deliberate. Loud, almost. A rejection of the quiet luxury trend everyone else is chasing.
Inside, the message is clear. Physical buttons for the things that matter. OLED screens for the rest. The center display curves down, echoing the new Cayenne. But here’s the thing: no separate screen for the passenger. Bentley says there won’t be an option. Keep it simple? Or just cheaper?
“Buttons for important functions are mixed withOLED screens.”
A Market In Flames
Frank-Steffen Walliser, Bentley’s chairman, calls the Torcal “the most considered car” in the company’s history. Good. Because it is arriving into a graveyard.
The luxury EV market is bleeding out. Look at Lamborghini. They shelved the Lanzador. CEO Stephan Winkelmann said demand is “going almost to zero.” Ferrari dropped billions in value the moment the Luce hit the press in Rome. Their second EV is pushed to 2028 now.
Mercedes sold 1,450 electric G-Wagens in Europe through April. The combustion version moved 9,700. Audi killed the Q8 E-tron. Citing a decline in orders.
And Porsche. Bentley’s cousin in the Volkswagen family. The Taycan loses value so fast dealers are refusing trade-ins. Operating profit collapsed 93% in 2025. A €3.9 billion write-off. A disaster of reversed strategy. Even the Rolls Royce Spectre sales fell by 44%. The Mercedes EQS SUV followed suit.
Bentley wants to drop its SUV into this specific wreckage.
Can They Swim?
Bentley is “okay.” Sort of. Seven straight years of profit. €216 million operating profit in March on €2.6 billion revenue. Sounds healthy, until you look at the drop. Profit is down 42% from last year.
They are paying for the EV switch themselves. Converting the old A1 building in Crewe into a battery-electric line. New paint shop. New design center. And they cut 275 jobs. Management. Non-manufacturing. The blood was drawn to save the ship.
Chinese demand is drying up, just like everyone else’s.
They hedged before, too. Walliser moved the all-electric goalpost from 2030 to 2035 last year. The plan now? Sell the Torcal alongside plug-in hybrids and gas cars. Don’t rush. A second full-EV isn’t coming until 2030 anyway.
Walliser argues the market changed.
“Technology seekers… wanted to show ‘I’m advanced.’ They wanted cars that looked different. Now people don’t want that,” he said. “They just want a car.”
So Bentley is staying conservative. “Don’t try to play.” Evolve, don’t revolution. It’s a nice line to take. Mercedes probably thought the same when they cloned the gas G-Wagon with batteries inside.
There is a sliver of hope, though. China. Ferrari’s controversial Luce got panned in the West, but Asia loved it. 88 units snapped up instantly at $586k a pop. Maybe Bentley just needs the right buyers, not the right car.
The Torcal feels authentic to them. To the rest of the world? We will have to wait. The reveal is September. The market won’t be.
