the marque’s first electric car asks what a bentley should sound like

the all-electric torcal still wants you to hear it

Bentley has spent more than a century building cars around large engines, so its first fully electric model arrives with a slightly strange problem. What should a Bentley sound like once combustion disappears? For the new Torcal, the answer involved bringing musicians into the process.

Drums, viola and bass guitar were recorded around the rhythm of the marque’s V8, then turned into a driving soundtrack that changes with speed and throttle input. The driver can switch it off, though its existence says plenty about how Bentley is approaching the move to electric power.

The Torcal is Bentley’s first full EV and its fourth model line, taking the form of a five-meter SUV with up to 375 miles of claimed WLTP range. The faster S version makes 888 PS and 1,350 Nm of torque, reaching 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. Those figures put it comfortably within the current world of very fast electric SUVs. The more interesting parts of the car are found in the ways Bentley has tried to make that technology feel specific to itself.

images © Bentley Motors

the long bentley hood survives the battery

An electric platform gives designers at Bentley Motors little mechanical reason to preserve the long hood of a traditional grand tourer. The team decided to keep it anyway. Design director Robin Page’s team stretches the Torcal across a long wheelbase with short overhangs, while the body rises heavily over the rear wheels. From the side, it still reads through proportions developed around engines sitting up front, even though a 113 kWh battery now runs beneath the cabin.

The front changes more visibly, as an illuminated diamond pattern occupies the place usually given to a grille, and the cabin tapers toward the back and leaves broad shoulders above the rear wheels. There are fewer creases across the body than on many recent luxury SUVs. Bentley’s design team describes the rear stance as a ‘resting beast,’ which essentially means that most of the weight is concentrated low and toward the back.

Bentley introduces the Torcal as its first fully electric production car

inside, the screen stops short of taking over

The cabin follows the same approach. Curved OLED displays and an augmented-reality head-up display bring the Torcal into familiar contemporary EV territory, but Bentley has resisted moving every interaction onto glass. Knurled switches remain across the steering wheel and center console, and the circular bullseye vents survive beside them. It feels like a fairly simple decision, though it becomes noticeable in a category where touchscreens have steadily absorbed almost every control.

There is more experimentation in the surfaces. Bentley worked with English mill Fox Brothers on a 100 percent Merino wool automotive textile, while Mulliner developed a veneer from layers of walnut offcuts and recycled paper pressed together and sliced thin. The Torcal still has the leather, metal and wood expected inside one of the brand’s cars. Here, though, those materials are being reworked instead of replaced by a vaguely futuristic palette.

the electric SUV keeps the long hood proportions associated with Bentley’s grand tourers

even the indicator began in the upholstery workshop

Sound becomes another material inside the Torcal. The main driving score borrows the pulse of a V8 without recreating the engine recording itself. Bentley also went into its workshops for smaller noises. The turn signal comes from a recording of a hammer hitting leather, while a crystal glass supplied the source for interface sounds. There is something eccentric about going to these lengths for an indicator tick, but these details reveal where car design goes once the machinery under the hood quiets down.

Underneath all of this sits an 800-volt electrical architecture with two motors and a quoted charging rate of up to 400 kW. Fully active suspension appears on a Bentley for the first time, adjusting each wheel independently, while rear-wheel steering gives the five-meter car an 11.1-meter turning circle.

The technology is substantial, though the Torcal’s debut is ultimately easiest to understand through the pieces the design team has chosen to preserve: proportion, tactility and sound. Electrification changes what makes the car move, and Bentley seems more interested in figuring out what still makes the experience recognizable.

physical switches remain alongside the Torcal’s curved OLED displays

Bentley worked with Fox Brothers to develop a 100 percent Merino wool automotive textile