New Bentley boss Adrian Hallmark has acknowledged that the brand was not as prepared for future technology as it could have been and is forging ahead with a revised strategy to ensure Bentley is at the forefront of electrification.
Since starting his position early this year, having previously been at the company as board member for sales, marketing and PR until 2005, Hallmark said: “We maybe weren’t as prepared for autonomous, connected and electrified strategies as we could have been.
“The [Bentayga] hybrid is a great first step but we need to do more than one hybrid. Hence the first thing we’ve changed [since I started] is the electrification of the cycle plan as fast as we can.
He continued: “That’s been quite a big change and we’ve shuffled a number of things around to be able to do it. It means that in every name plate will be an electrified option – hybrid or full electric – by 2025. We’ll flesh out specific plans in the next three to six months. Certainly by the end of this year, we’ll be in a much clearer position about what we’ll do.”
On the Bentayga hybrid, which was revealed at this year’s Geneva motor show, Hallmark said he was “positively surprised” at the reaction. “Of the five declared luxury brands of Lamborghini, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin and us, we’re the first to do it in a conventional, production, mainstream vehicle. And the kudos we’ve got for it, and the interest, is incredible.”
He predicts that hybrid volume will account for 10% of Bentayga sales from launch, but is hesitant to put firm numbers on hybrid uptake, citing California as a case in point: “It’s the leading market in the world for electrification and [electrified cars] still only account for 3% of sales.”
It’s quite possible that the next hybrid we will see is in the upcoming Flying Spur, due later this year. However, nothing is yet decided. Hallmark commented: “There’s two aspects that drive electrification. One is compliance with regional standards and the other is being competitive.
“In terms of compliance in certain markets, then that will lead us down one direction. Obviously Bentayga is our highest volume car so that’s the first one we have to hybridise. The next volume car is probably going to be the saloon car so if you wanted a second car just for compliance, then that would normally be the next selection. Then the sportier cars you could do but they tend to be the smaller volume. So we’ll do it on that kind of basis.”
When asked, therefore, whether the next hybrid would be the Flying Spur saloon, Hallmark said: “Possibly. It’s not definite we’ll make that decision in next six months.”
He also confirmed we would see a pure electric Bentley within the next five years but would not divulge more details on which kind of model it would be. “I do know we will go electric in the next five years, it’s got to be, but bodystyles, we could do anything.”
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