Bentley reveals 'Torcal' name for incoming EV

Incoming fourth model line, and Bentley's first all-electric car, is imminent. We've had a sneak peek, too

It is not every day, nor indeed every year, that Bentley launches an all-new model line. The last time it did so, it ushered in the Bentayga, an SUV based on the same platform that underpinned the Porsche Cayenne. A decade later, it’s the turn of the Torcal, an SUV based on the same platform that underpins the latest Porsche Cayenne. So turns the mighty wheel of the Volkswagen Group, you might say, as consistent as a nuclear clock - if such a thing could be turned to the job of generating colossal profits.

Except, of course, it isn’t currently. Volkswagen AG, its back to the wall and with one eye on its Chinese rivals, is on the cusp of a major strategic overhaul, one so significant that it is thinking the unthinkable: deep and lasting cuts to domestic production. Consequently, the board’s appetite for exotic, moon-shot new product - say, for example, a low-slung, swept-back Bentley in the brooding, saloon-ish shape of a new Mulsanne - is likely substantially smaller than it is for the repeatedly proven appeal of yet another SUV built upon shared architecture.

The rub in the case of the new Premium Platform Electric (PPE), is that, as the name suggests, Bentley cannot politely shrug and then find a way to make a turbocharged W12 fit under the hood, as it did with the original Bentayga. By definition, this must be the first exclusively battery-powered model to leave the hallowed gates at Crewe, and the decision-makers have decreed that it must be in the shape of a Luxury Urban SUV, as Bentley previously described the new car when confirming its existence at the end of last year.

Doubtless sensing that it was silly to keep addressing the EV in this way - and taking some flak at the time for suggesting that the product qualified as a ‘world first’ - the brand has decided to reveal its name in the gradual run-up a full reveal later this year. Geology buffs will be pleased with the chosen label: El Torcal de Antequera, we’re told, is a ‘dramatic limestone landscape’ in Andalusia, Spain, ‘shaped by nature over millions of years yet continuing to evolve’. Nudge, nudge.

The broader implications don’t stop there either: perhaps slightly more tenuously, Bentley suggests that Torcal is derived from ‘torquere’ the latin verb for twist - and certainly you can expect plenty of that from a powertrain shared with the hugely powerful electric Cayenne. “Our new Torcal sets extraordinary benchmarks in every area that matters, and may just be the most considered car in our history,” said Frank-Steffen Walliser, Bentley’s Chairman and CEO.

We expect such grandiose statements in the build-up to such an important new model; less so an invite to Crewe to see the car, fully unveiled (though admittedly in pre-production format), but not with any pictures to accompany the event, save one of the rear, nor indeed any additional information to relay beyond the fact the Torcal is five metres long and will eventually go on sale with a range of more than 300 miles. Everything else we learnt is to remain under wraps until September, when the covers officially come off.

Bentley, it suggested, wanted some honest feedback - though precisely what good it would do it at this late stage wasn’t clear. Slightly more plausible was the idea that the manufacturer hoped to take some of the sting out of the initial (i.e. social media) response further down the road - and one can hardly blame it for some nervousness in the wake of the Ferrari Luce and Jaguar Type 01, new EVs that generated front page news for all the wrong reasons.

Unlike those cars, which were clearly styled to rock the boat (albeit to a lesser degree than resulted), Bentley, one suspects, would very much settle for another Bentayga - i.e. a car that suffers some knee-jerk criticism for its size and immodest attitude and unapologetic SUV-ness, but ultimately becomes a well-respected part of the furniture. Accordingly, perhaps the nicest thing to say about the Torcal is that despite its spangly new design language and precious little subtlety or gracefulness, there is no Luce moment to meeting it in the flesh.

This is some feat in itself when you consider that Bentley has chosen to adorn its first EV not just with an imposing, upright grille (think old Continental T, though at giant scale), but also one that illuminates. As you can imagine, this is a love-it-or-hate-it feature on the scale of Guinness Marmite, though, mercifully, it is switch-off-able. Its sophisticated diamond motif lighting - one used throughout the Torcal and visible in the rear light cluster - ought to go down a storm in Shanghai, and probably look the part there, too. Less so in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The long-bonneted car around it does not want for other thrusting design elements. It features a distinctive shoulder line and the kind of muscular haunches that have long been trademark of the Bentley lineup, although in stark contrast to the amorphous blob that is the electric Cayenne, there seem to be additional, body-sharpening creases everywhere. You can see one tracing the shape of the bootlid. It makes the Torcal far more interesting to look at than Porsche’s equivalent SUV; whether or not it makes it attractive generally or merely very busy, will be for you to decide in September.

The interior is arguably less susceptible to subjectivity disclaimers, mainly because it seemed to PH very pleasant indeed. Naturally it includes a departure from Bentley’s (very) long-running dash architecture, though its replacement is similarly easy on the eye and retains physical switchgear where you’d want it. Obviously, there is a large infotainment screen, though it is nicely integrated and non-domineering. A capacious sense of space and light is palpable, as is the familiarly clever use of high-end materials and shrewdly mounted seats. It is a mostly classy affair, in other words, one that deftly balances modernity - and even digitisation - with old-fashioned Bentley sensibilities.

Or that was the feeling after spending a couple of hours in the Torcal’s presence, anyway. It will be intriguing to see how well the car photographs (we were permitted to take none ourselves) and just how vociferous the internet’s reaction will be to its fixation with diamond-like glint - but with that element fast-fading in the memory, the residual impression was of a car that seemed necessarily different from any existing Bentley, though not wantonly unrelated to them for the sake of it. The Torcal will make waves, certainly. But it does also look like something Crewe might have done. Which, in the long run, ought to help it avoid a tsunami.

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Twinair

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