Thunderbolt and lightning

FOR The first truly silent Bentley. Hybrid integration is well done, it’ll appeal to a new audience AGAINST V6 is coarse when roused, regeneration and range are both limited

Bentley turns 100 this month, which makes it just about old enough to have had a crack at an electric car a century ago. But no, this is the first. And, Bentley claims, the world’s first luxury hybrid. What about Lexus, Porsche and others, you’re wondering? Premium brands apparently, not luxury.

The tech that underpins it is similar to other premium hybrids in the VW Group. There’s a single electric motor sandwiched in the gap between the engine and gearbox. That delivers 126bhp to the permanent 4WD drivetrain, pulling its power from a 13kWh, 210kg battery mounted under the boot floor. Enough for Bentley to claim an electric-only range of around 30 miles, with a top speed in e-mode of 84mph. Got a wallbox at home? You’ll have full charge in 2.5 hours.

Now a 30-mile range isn’t much to boast about, but Bentley’s thinking is as follows: big SUVs are popular in cities, and cities are clamping down on emissions. A luxury SUV that can trundle its wealthy occupants around a zero emissions city centre isn’t to be sniffed at. Driving from your country pile to your city bolthole? You’ll use petrol on motorways, then electric as the speeds decrease. Already in the city? Just press the button behind the drive mode selector on the centre console to switch to Electric mode. That way you’ll ensure the petrol only starts if you push beyond the step point in the throttle. And the satnav map shows you a green-edged splat of your potential e-range.

Press the start button and you get even less sensation than in a V8 or W12 Bentayga (the diesel has now been discontinued in Europe). That’s because it starts in electric. It’s best to twist the dial from Comfort to Bentley, just to make the throttle a little

more alert, but after that the Bentayga moves about contentedly on e-power. Entirely silent, entirely smooth. But not entirely swift. Only 126bhp moving 2.6 tonnes, enough to get around town with, but you’re never going to hit that 84mph electric max – you’ll have lost the will to wait beyond 40mph and roused the V6 petrol.

That fires unobtrusively enough, but no matter which way you choose to look at it, the V6 is not remotely as refined and soothing as the V8 or W12. There’s a bit of harshness in the mid-range, a slight hiccup as kickdown engages, the noise it makes isn’t very… Bentley. It’s coarse and you feel the vibrations. Nor is the system that advanced. The petrol can’t use spare power to charge the batteries, so once depleted it’s tough to get charge back into them by braking alone, and Bentley decided not to pursue a onepedal set-up where retardation begins when you lift off the throttle.

This is not Bentley setting new hybrid standards, but showing you can have a 2.6-tonne SUV and be kind (or at least kinder) to the environment, plus showing that this trad brand is prepared for the future. It’s an important car for Bentley. But it’s a timid execution: the battery isn’t big enough, the motor not powerful enough and charge doesn’t replenish quickly enough. This is a hybrid where, unless doing short hops across cities with regular plug-in opportunities, the petrol engine is still the dominant partner.

Let’s view this as a toe in the water. By 2023, there will be an electrified version of every Bentley. In 2025, we’re promised the first fully electric Bentley. As a kick-off, this Hybrid should also bring more people into the brand. The wealthy aren’t all hardcore petrol-quaffers after all.

“PRESS THE START BUTTON AND YOU GET EVEN LESS SENSATION THAN IN A V8 OR W12”