Bentley Motors further delays all-EV plan amid weak demand as it embraces plug-in hybrids
Bentley Motors is once again pushing back a target to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles, with plans to continue leaning into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles until at least 2035.
Bentley Motors is once again pushing back a target to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles, with plans to continue leaning into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles until at least 2035.
The British maker of ultra-luxury performance cars on Thursday said it continues to have “an ambition to be building only fully electric cars from 2035,” but the adjustment is needed due to changing market conditions.
Bentley Chairman and CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser said “there’s not a lot of demand” for EVs from current customers. But he said the automaker needs to meet legislation and be ready for a new generation of customers.
“Legislation, for sure, is driving electrification … but also competition,” Walliser said during an online media event Thursday. “We have to be honest, there’s not a lot of demand.”
The Volkswagen-owned carmaker initially said in 2020 that it planned to exclusively offer all-electric vehicles by the end of this decade. Former CEO Adrian Hallmark days before leaving the company said those plans would be delayed by a few years but did not give a set timeframe.
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