New Bentley Torcal teased as the brand's first electric car
Bentley's first EV will launch this year as a large luxury SUV with a new design language. Here's an early look
Torcal. It's derived from the latin word ‘torquere’, meaning twist, and where the more modern word ‘torque’ can trace its roots. It’s also the name of Bentley’s first all electric car. Which is rather apt considering Bentley’s past and present have never left drivers wanting when it comes to pulling power.
You’ll need to wait until its full reveal on 23rd September 2026 to see what the Torcal looks like, but it’ll be a five-metre long electric SUV to join the Continental GT, Flying Spur and Bentayga in the range. For now, there’s the teaser accompanying this story.
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 the pure combustion engines in the specials, such as the Supersports.
While Bentley is keeping the technical specifications quiet until the September reveal, it has confirmed the Torcal will have a driving range in excess of 300 miles. What we can tell you is what it looks like, even if you can’t see what we’re describing, but that’s modern embargo strategies for you.
Having spent some time in its company it’s a striking piece of design, not in a shocking Ferrari Luce way, but a very confident language that blends traditional Bentley design cues – think of the Continental R and T models of the latest Eighties and Nineties, and the Brooklands of the early Noughties – that provides a reassuring guide to the future 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; although the illuminated front grille won’t be for everyone (it can 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 shrinking its footprint.
Inside, however, the Torcal is pure Tardis with space to put an extended wheelbase Bentayga to shame. It has also allowed the interior designers to provide comfort on a quite remarkable level. Digital interfaces are blended with traditional interior design elements with consideration and thought not only as to how passengers will interact with them but what they expect from a car’s human interface. Haptic controls and jeweled controls share interior space with a seamless elegance.
The proof will be in the driving, or being driven in the Torcal of course, but even sitting inside a validation prototype whilst parked in a design studio Bentley’s first step on its next journey feels more authentic than many others making doing the same.
You’ll be able to decide for yourself in September.
