Bentley Torcal prototype ride: on the road in Bentley’s first EV
Bentley's first electric car, a luxury sports SUV with a new design language, will be revealed in September. evo hops aboard a prototype for a first experience on the road
The Bentley Torcal, the brand’s first fully electric car, will be revealed in full on 23 September 2026. A five-metre-long SUV, it will sit below the Bentayga, Continental GT and Flying Spur as an entry point to the Bentley range, and its aim is growth: the Torcal’s mission to attract new customers to grow the brand, including those who may not have previously considered buying a Bentley.
It’s not intended to be an electric Bentayga alternative; its brief is to be a model all of its own, with a unique character and attributes. Pricing is yet to be confirmed but the Torcal’s starting price will be below that of the Bentayga. It will be sold in every market around the world Bentley’s other models are currently sold in.
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The arrival of the Torcal provides Bentley with a three-pronged powertrain attack adding to the existing plug-in hybrid V8s in the GT and Flying Spur and pure combustion-engine power in specials such as the new Supersports.
The name Torcal – pronounced stressing the second syllable, ‘tor-CAHL’ as opposed to rhyming with ‘snorkel’ – is taken from rock formations in Spain shaped by twisting winds. It's also derived from the Latin word ‘torquere,’ meaning to twist, and where the more modern word ‘torque’ can trace its roots. Which is rather apt considering Bentleys past and present have never left drivers wanting for pulling power.
While Bentley is keeping the technical specifications quiet until the September reveal, it has confirmed the Torcal’s target driving range is in excess of 370 miles and that it will have more than 838bhp and 738lb ft to call upon.
The camo graphics and body cladding make it difficult to get a sense of the design in these pictures but evo has had a preview without the disguise and it’s striking: not in a shocking Ferrari Luce way, but with a very confident language that blends traditional Bentley design cues – think of the Continental R and T models of the latest 1980s and ’90s, and the Brooklands of the early Noughties – that provides a reassuring guide to the future of Bentley design. Cast your mind back to the EXP15 concept and there are some design cues around the front of that car that provide a strong idea of what the Torcal will look like.
The Torcal is also a square-edged, broad-shouldered Bentley. Its surfaces feature tight, crisp creases like an immaculately pressed shirt. The detailing is considered, fuss-free and without unnecessary details. The illuminated front grille won’t be for everyone but it can at least be turned off. There’s a confidence to the design, sitting both low to the ground for an SUV and featuring a lower-than-expected roofline. Its four-square stance creates an optical illusion of a smaller footprint.
Riding in the Torcal prototype
We’ve had an advance passenger ride in a camouflaged prototype Torcal on the road in the USA. Surprise Number One lands as soon as the Bentley Torcal comes into view. This is a fully camouflaged prototype, wearing body cladding and eye-throwing graphics, but the essentials and proportions come across clearly: while it’s far from a small car, this is a noticeably lower, shorter product than the Bentayga, with a more compact silhouette. (Precisely, it’s 120mm shorter overall, and around 300mm shorter than the stretched Bentayga EWB).
Which tees up the second surprise: getting aboard, there’s a huge amount of space, both in terms of legroom in the front and rear, and also headroom, despite a standard full-length glass roof. Interior space is on par with a Bentayga owing to the ‘skateboard’ EV platform’s packaging. That said, you do get a slightly better view from the rear seats in a Bentayga, with a higher vantage point and lower window line. The beltline is a little higher in the Torcal, and you feel a little more embedded in the car.
That platform, labelled PP41C, is shared with Porsche’s electric Cayenne, though many of the Bentley’s components are unique and it has been engineered and developed separately. They are the only two models within the VW Group to use this particular platform; the Audi Q6 and Porsche Macan, for example, are built around slightly different architecture.
The next surprise comes when the seatbelt is clicked into place: the passenger door powers itself shut automatically. That feature is likely to be standard on higher-grade trims and an option on base cars.
Driving us is the product line director for the Torcal, Martin Page. When he switches the car on, there’s another surprise: it sounds like a V8 has just erupted into life. This is the Torcal’s ‘propulsion sound,’ inspired by the pushrod V8 engine from the Bentley Continental R of the past. It’s not based on a sample of that engine, however: it’s been programmed based on live recordings of musicians replicating the engine’s firing order on percussion instruments. It rises and falls with torque demand, rather than accelerator position, and fades away during steady-state driving.
Page explains the sound is there partly to make the driving experience more ‘emotional’ but also to give occupants a sense of how quickly the car is going and feel less disoriented than can be the case in silent EVs. If the sound isn’t to taste, it can be switched off.
Switching to Sport mode makes the sound heavier and throbbier. In fact, it’s really quite loud, particularly when sitting in the back, where you’re closer to the external speaker required by pedestrian safety regs. Bentley is still finalising the volume levels, which is partly why this prototype is here racking up miles in California. It’s one of 60 similar prototypes around the world as the Torcal enters its final few months of development.
Once we’re out of sight of pedestrians, Page removes the shrouds hiding the dashboard. There’s no passenger-side display: Bentley instead wants to show off its materials and craftsmanship, and while there’s a very prominent touchscreen mid-dash all of the important controls, such as air-conditioning, volume and ADAS shortcuts, are physical and have been designed to be operated without taking your eyes from the road.
Page says Bentley has avoided chasing power and acceleration figures for their own sake. There won’t be a model with 1000 horsepower, for example. Power is instead ‘sufficient’ and the aim is ‘effortless progression.’ While final numbers are not being disclosed, power will exceed 850ps (838bhp) and torque 1000Nm (738lb ft). For reference, the Cayenne Turbo Electric has 845bhp courtesy of a twin-motor set-up, fed by a 113kWh battery.
The 800V electrical architecture powers an active air suspension system, without physical anti-roll bars. On a curving slip road, the lack of body roll is evident, as is the lack of head-toss compared with most conventional SUVs. Page explains that the car could have been engineered to corner completely flat without roll but some has been programmed in to feel natural: in fact, pitch, roll and heave have been benchmarked to feel similar to that of the Continental GT, with the ride comfort of the Flying Spur.
NVH levels are impressive, whether sat in the front or rear. There’s a small raised area in the middle of the floor at the back, to accommodate part of the battery module, but overall it’s a very roomy, expansive cabin. Up front there’s a broad centre console, to give the classic elbows-on-armrests-each-size Bentley driving position and plenty of hidden stowage space for belongings.
Target range is 600km (373 miles). That will be achieved on the optional 22-inch rims fitted to this car. Base cars will have 21-inch wheels and there won’t be a 23-inch option. Up to 400kW charging power will be possible, with Bentley suggesting a rapid-charger time from 10 per cent to 80 per cent battery of less than 20 minutes. That would therefore make the classic ‘Paris to St Tropez’ Bentley journey cliché possible, assuming a coffee break and reliable infrastructure.
From the passenger seat, the Torcal feels a convincing luxury EV with family-car suitability and capability in urban environments plus agility on open roads. Based on this taster it feels in keeping with Bentley’s DNA. Its next challenge is how the public and prospective buyers will receive it at its reveal, and the verdict from behind the wheel.
