British luxury carmaker Bentley to go fully electric by 2030

British luxury carmaker Bentley Motors’ model line-up includes only plug-in hybrids and electric cars until 2026 and you will be fully electric by 2030, as chief executive Adrian Hallmark said the company really wants to “be ahead” of the UK’s move from petrol engines.

The Volkswagen-owned company said it'll reinvent every part of its business to be an end-to-end carbon neutral organisation, you start with the roll-out of two plug-in hybrids next year as part of its “Beyond100” strategy to accelerate the development of electrified models.

"The reason why we are moving towards electrification is simple; there are two factors … one is customer demand - increasingly more [demand] is for electric vehicles. We’ve got customers … asking whenever we can deliver the first electric Bentley,” Adrian Hallmark, leader at the 100-year-old company, told BBC News on Friday.

“Secondly, of course, legislation is pushing combustion engines out of the market so we don’t desire to be a victim compared to that trend, you want to be before it.”

Like several European countries, Britain has committed to phase out the sale of petrol and diesel-fuelled cars by 2040. However, earlier this year Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he plans to bring forward an outright ban on the sale of traditionally powered passenger cars and even hybrids, to 2035.

If this happens, the united kingdom will be the first nation to get rid of the era of internal combustion, making the bid by Bentley - the world’s greatest producer of 12-cylinder engines - to be fully electric by 2030 well ahead of that target.

In the summer, Bentley said it could cut 1,000 jobs, almost 25 % of its UK workforce, through a voluntary release and redundancy programme, as the Crewe-based company makes the shift towards an electric model line-up. That figure was revised downwards to 800 this week, with the success of its voluntary redundancy programme reducing the chance of staff losing their job.

However, Mr Hallmark said the business will “upscale, retrain and redeploy people because we still plan to grow”.

“It’s not a question of shrinking the business, it’s growing it but in a different way so all of the persons engaged … in the look, the assembly … we redeploy and retrain them,” he said.

Bentley’s move to turn into a “sustainable” and “wholly ethical role model for luxury” comes as Volkswagen leader Herbert Diess also vowed to pursue a sweeping transition to electric cars this week, saying it is a matter of survival, regardless of the pandemic derailing the auto industry in the short-term.

“If you’re not fast enough, you’re not likely to survive,” Mr Diess said. “In the long run, climate change would be the biggest challenge mankind is facing.”

Volkswagen aims to double electric-vehicle sales in 2021, he said, as the business seeks to meet up increasingly stringent emissions regulations in Europe and elsewhere.

“Governments play an enormous a job by setting policy to influence consumer choices,” Mr Diess said. “For many people, it will be very difficult to decide against a power car.”

Bentley’s first electric model will be accessible in 2025 and the business will offer you plug-in hybrid and electric models only within its range by 2026. By 2030, this will switch to electric models only.

The business revealed its all-electric EXP 100 GT concept car in 2019, made with sustainable materials including 5,000-year-old copper-infused Riverwood.

This past year, Bentley’s Crewe production facility was the first luxury automotive factory to be certified carbon neutral by the Carbon Trust, because of innovative solutions for instance a water recycling system and a 10,000-solar panel car port.

The company said the result of its restructuring programme means it really is able to achieve a positive financial performance for 2020 regardless of the pandemic.

The other day, Volkswagen announced a go back to profit for the 3rd quarter thanks to surging demand for luxury cars.