New Bentley Torcal ride review: brand's first EV has the British luxury DNA
The Torcal is Bentley's first foray into the world of electric cars, and it appears to be a very promising new chapter
Verdict
Based on this passenger ride in a camouflaged prototype, the Bentley Torcal is shaping up to be a very convincing luxury EV. It’s quiet, comfortable and spacious, with an eye-catching yet practical interior and clever use of technology. It feels in keeping with Bentley’s DNA, and its aim to grow its customer base by attracting new buyers to the brand feels like an achievable one. The real acid test, however, will come when we drive the finished article.
Bentley’s first-ever all-electric model, the Torcal, is reaching the final stages of its development. Around 60 prototypes are currently racking up test miles around the world, and Auto Express has hopped aboard one of them for a passenger-ride preview.
The Torcal will be officially revealed in September, with first deliveries to customers planned for spring 2027. The five-meter-long sports SUV will sit below the Bentayga in Bentley’s range and aims to attract new customers to the brand. It’s not intended to be an electric Bentayga alternative: its brief is to be a model all of its own, with a unique character and attributes.
First surprise, standing next to this fully camouflaged prototype in Monterey, California, is how low the roof is. While certainly not a small car, it’s noticeably more compact than the Bentayga. The disguise graphics and body cladding make it difficult to get a sense of the design, but the styling will carry traditional Bentley cues with a more modern treatment than the Torcal’s larger SUV stablemate.
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Cash £18,995Climbing aboard, however, we find that there is plenty of headroom – and that’s despite the standard full-length glass roof. Same goes for legroom, front and rear. While the Torcal is 120mm shorter than the Bentayga, interior space is on a par thanks to the packaging benefits afforded by the ‘skateboard’ EV platform. That said, you do get a slightly better view from the rear seats in a Bentayga, with a higher vantage point and lower window line.
That platform is shared with the Porsche Cayenne Electric, but many of the Bentley’s components are unique and the model has been engineered and developed separately.
The second surprise with the Torcal comes when the seatbelt is clicked into place: the passenger door powers itself shut automatically. That feature is likely to be standard on higher-grade trims and an option on base cars.
Driving us is the Torcal’s product line director Martin Page. When he switches the car on, there’s a third surprise: what sounds, just for a moment, like a V8 firing into life. This, he explains, is the Torcal’s ‘propulsion sound’. It’s not an engine, nor a recording or synthesised version of one: it has in fact been programmed based on live recordings by musicians on percussion instruments, to create a sound based on that of a classic Bentley Continental R engine.
It rises and falls naturally with speed, and fades away during steady-state driving. When the driver accelerates and brakes, however, the sound is introduced. This is partly to make the driving experience more ‘emotional’, but also to give occupants a sense of how quickly the car is going and so avoid feeling disoriented or motion sick, because research has suggested that such a sensation can be more common in silent electric cars. If the sound isn’t to drivers’ tastes, however, it can be switched off.
Changing to Sport mode makes the sound deeper and more noticeable. That’s done via the ‘curation controller’, a rotary dial on the centre console. Another surprise: once we’re out of sight of pedestrians, Page removes the fabric and rubber shrouds guarding the interior from view. It reveals a dramatically curved touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard.
Its technology is based on that of the Porsche Cayenne, which has an angled screen in two planes, but the Bentley’s unique screen has a continuous curve. If you place your elbow on the centre armrest and trace your finger down the screen, its curve follows the natural arc of your arm.
There’s no fashionable passenger display in the dashboard: Bentley has consciously avoided this, to instead show off its materials and craftsmanship. Likewise it has avoided chasing dramatic acceleration and power figures for the sake of Top Trumps-style statistics. Nonetheless, power will be “in excess of 838bhp” and the Torcal will be the quickest-accelerating Bentley model yet.
Page says the goal of the model’s dynamics is ‘effortless progression’, and as such Bentley has programmed a cushioned edge to the acceleration rather than a sledgehammer hit of torque. Nonetheless, when there’s a clear, quiet stretch we get a brief sense of the Torcal’s torque, and it is certainly swift enough. Page points out that electric motor power fits the classic Bentley driving DNA of access to an unrelenting wave of torque.
The Torcal has an active air-suspension system, made possible by 800V electrical architecture, with no physical anti-roll bars. On a curving slip road, you can feel the lack of body roll and your head isn’t tossed around as it would be in most conventional SUVs. Some body lean has been deliberately engineered in, to give the Torcal a natural feel and similar suspension movement to that of the Continental GT. The aim, Page says, is for Bentley Continental GT dynamics with Flying Spur comfort. Certainly the Torcal is a quiet and comfortable place to ride, whether sitting in the front or the back.
Target range is 600km (373 miles): “We will achieve that,” Page says. That’s on the optional 22-inch rims (base cars will ride on 21s) and not in a stripped-out car. The Torcal will be capable of up to 400kW charging power, taking less than 20 minutes to get its battery from 10 to 80 per cent with a high-powered charger.
Bentley’s new model will be available in every market around the world in which its cars are currently sold. Pricing is yet to be announced, and the Torcal will be revealed in full on 23 September 2026.
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