Bentley’s first-ever all-electric vehicle will be developed and built in the UK, the luxury car manufacturer announced.
The VW Group-owned brand said it would invest £2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) in sustainability over the next ten years to support its plan to become exclusively electric and end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030.
An unspecified part of the investment will go towards setting up the historic Crewe production campus for the production of the brand’s first electric vehicle. The carmaker will build a new greenfield facility alongside the existing site. The new assembly area will be called “Bentley Dream Factory.”
Bentley says the EV production announcement is a “major boost” for the UK economy and also helps secure the carmaker’s first step into electrification at the Crewe plant where 4,000 employees build all Bentley models.
The company added that the significant investment program will also result in “a complete transformation of Bentley’s entire product portfolio, and the historic Crewe Campus by embedding an industry-leading greenfield facility into a world-leading, next generation digital, low environmental impact, high-value advanced manufacturing facility.”
Gallery: Bentley EXP 100 GT at Monterey Car Week 2019
The as-yet-unnamed electric Bentley is scheduled to roll off the production line in 2025 based on a bespoke electric vehicle architecture developed by Audi with advanced self-driving functions under the Project Artemis name.
Bentley’s Crewe plant won’t build the new EV from scratch, though; unpainted bodies will be built at VW Group’s Hanover plant in Germany before being shipped to the UK. The plant, which is the main production base of the VW Commercial Vehicles (VWCV) division, will also build Audi’s Project Artemis flagship EV.
"Our aim is to become the benchmark not just for luxury cars or sustainable credentials but the entire scope of our operations. Securing production of our first BEV in Crewe is a milestone moment for Bentley, and the UK, as we plan for a long-term sustainable future in Crewe."
Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and CEO of Bentley Motors
Bentley currently sells only one plug-in hybrid vehicle, the Bentayga Hybrid SUV, which accounted for 20% of all Bentayga sales in 2021. A second PHEV model, the Flying Spur Hybrid sedan, is scheduled to go on sale in the second quarter of 2022. The automaker has pledged to sell only plug-in hybrid and pure electric models by 2026.
