Bentley is preparing to open a new chapter with the Torcal, its first battery-electric vehicle, and the reveal is now just one month away. The sports SUV has reached the final stages of testing, bringing more than 850 PS, over a thousand newton-meters of torque, and a target range that reaches 600 km under WLTP.
This is not a quiet move into electric power. The Torcal combines a shorter body than the Bentayga with an interior that remains similarly voluminous, using the packaging efficiencies built into an EV. Bentley is aiming to preserve the space, comfort, and emotional appeal expected from its vehicles while creating a new electric flagship for the sports SUV segment.
A Smaller Shape With Serious Electric Muscle
The Torcal measures 5 meters, or 16 feet, 5 inches, in length, making it shorter than a Bentayga. It is also shorter in height, yet Bentley says the cabin remains similarly voluminous inside. That balance comes from the inherent packaging efficiencies of an EV, which give the Torcal a compact exterior without giving up interior volume.
Its proportions remind of a Porsche Cayenne EV, and the Torcal shares quite a lot of the same basic engineering as that vehicle. Bentley has reworked the engineering for its own battery-electric SUV, giving the Torcal a distinct identity while retaining a familiar foundation.
The numbers push the Torcal into serious performance territory. Bentley is targeting over a thousand newton-meters of torque, equal to 737 lb-ft, along with over 850 PS, or 838 hp and 625 kW. Martin Page, product line director for the Torcal, described those figures as key parts of the vehicle’s technology.
“We’ll be well over a thousand newton-meters of torque [737 lb-ft], which is one of the sort of enabling pillars of the technology, which is fantastic. There’ll be over 850 PS [838 hp/625 kW], but we’re not chasing four figures,” Page said.
Range, Charging, and Final Testing
The target range stands at 300 miles, or 482 km, under the EPA test cycle. Under WLTP, Bentley is targeting 600 km, or 373 miles. Those figures give the Torcal a clear electric touring mission, pairing long-distance capability with the output expected from a sports SUV.
When the battery needs energy, the Torcal will support 400 kW DC fast-charging. Bentley has not provided a charging time in the verified details, but the charging system gives the vehicle a major technical feature as it moves toward production.
The Torcal has also been driven around Pebble Beach in a preproduction car for localization testing. That testing forms part of the vehicle’s final development stage, with Bentley now preparing to reveal its first battery-electric vehicle next month.
Bentley’s move toward electric power follows a broader shift across its range. The automaker now offers plug-in hybrids across its range, and it replaced the Continental GT’s W12 with a new plug-in hybrid V8. The Torcal will carry that transition into a fully battery-electric vehicle.
Electric Power With a Bentley Sound
Bentley is not treating the Torcal as a technology exercise alone. The company has focused on how the vehicle feels and sounds from behind the wheel, using sound mapped to the load on the powertrain to create a natural experience.
“These are luxury items, an emotional purchase. So we wanted to make sure that we maintained this kind of emotional connection to the car. And sound, we felt was really important,” Page said.
The sound design draws on the pattern of a V8 rather than adding a loud external effect. “We chose to use artists, humans to recreate the pattern. So they play the firing order, the V8 on drums. … If you think about the actual mechanical engine itself, it is imperfect. It has tolerances in it. So it has natural variation in the idle beat,” Page explained.
The result is intended to stay subtle inside the vehicle while remaining audible outside it. Page said the sound is not loud or obnoxious, and Bentley has not followed the route Dodge took with the Charger EV by fitting a loud external speaker.
“The sound is mapped to the amount of load on the powertrain ‘so that you get a really natural experience when you’re in a high load scenario, up a hill or in a dynamic situation where you get that visceral level of kind of engagement with the car,’” Page said.
The Torcal also uses the same 48 V dual-valve damper active ride comfort system as the Porsche Panamera. From an occupant’s perspective, it glides down the road with as much ride comfort as a Flying Spur sedan, while its interior is similar to the Continental GT in driving experience.
The next step is the reveal. With testing in its final stages, Bentley’s Torcal is about to show how its first battery-electric vehicle can combine sports SUV proportions, high-output electric performance, fast charging, and the emotional details the automaker believes define a luxury car.
