Even though Bentley is still years away from releasing its first electric model, the luxury carmaker is promising to ramp up production to the point of having a new car a year from 2025 to 2030.
Fueled By Strong 2021, Bentley Is Making Big Promises
The British car maker, which is owned by the larger Volkswagen (VLKAF) , made a reiterated a number of big promises after releasing very strong financial results on Tuesday.
Compared to a profit of 20 million euros last year, Bentley brought in 389 million euros, roughly $425 million USD.
Deliveries also rose 31% to 14,659 cars with hybrid models being especially popular.
Based on that success, the company re-committed to becoming fully carbon-neutral by 2030 and releasing a new EV model every year for five years from 2025 onwards.
Bentley
"Brand strength has been key to Bentley's financial performance in 2021, with new models such as the Bentayga, increasing demand for our hybridised models, supported by €3 billion of sustainable investment in our Crewe factory, will ensure we remain the benchmark manufacturer in sustainable luxury mobility," Chief Financial Officer Jan-Henrik Lafrentz told investors.
Is A New EV A Year Feasible?
Bentley's words come at a time when competition for the electric car market has never been higher.
A report from Market Research Future found that the electric car market will grow from $208.95 billion in 2021 to $957.42 billion by 2030, while General Motors (GM) committed to pouring $35 billion into EV development in the next five years.
While competitors like Lamborghini and Ferrari (RACE) have already released all-electric models, the first electric vehicle in Bentley's signature sporty style is only expected to debut by 2025.
As such, five years of new annual models at the current rate is a pretty big promise despite the fact that Bentley has already committed $2.8 billion to transforming its Crewe, England headquarters into a space that can make innovative electric vehicles.
Even if the luxury carmaker ramps up production to that extent, it will still be behind the competitors who released models like the BMW (BMW) i4 years ago.
"The strategy has since accelerated, with the announcement of the 'Five-in-Five' plan, which will see five all-electric Bentley vehicles launched – one each year from 2025 – at which point our entire product range will be electric," the company tells investors.
Even though demand for EVs shows no signs of slowing down, the abundance of new models hitting the market is creating a space in which buyers have a wealth of choice and no one company is set to dominate like Tesla (TSLA) from the start.
While the carmaker made up 79.5% of all EV sales in the second quarter of 2020, that number fell to 66.3% by the same period in 2021.
