Skip to main content

Why Bentley sees hybrid drivetrains differently than other automakers

2017 Bentley Mulsanne
Ronan Glon/Digital Trends
A vast majority of automakers from all over the world are making large investments to bring hybrid and plug-in hybrid models to the market in the coming years. Bentley is one of them, but it sees gasoline-electric cars differently than many of its peers.

Bentley boss Wolfgang Dürheimer confirmed on the sidelines of the Detroit Auto Show that the company will introduce a plug-in hybrid version of every single car in its lineup. The company is under pressure to sell more efficient cars, and it needs to build models capable of traveling on electricity alone for short distances in order to satisfy buyers in big European and Asian cities. Several mayors are considering banning gasoline- and diesel-powered cars from city centers in the coming years to curb pollution.

Recommended Videos

Most automakers consider hybrid models as a temporary way to reduce emissions until motorists shift to battery-powered cars. Bentley, however, believes hybrids represent the ideal compromise between gasoline-powered engines and electric vehicles.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

“PHEV sometimes is mentioned as a transitional technology — it will be out of our way pretty soon. From my point of view, plug-in hybrid technology provides the best of two worlds,” explained Dürheimer in an interview with industry trade journal Automotive News.

He explained that plug-in hybrid cars deliver the zero-emissions driving that local and federal governments are increasingly mandating without compromising range. Many Bentley owners take their cars on long trips, so a pure electric vehicle isn’t practical for them. The average Bentley customer doesn’t want to stop for 30 minutes — if not more — every time the car’s battery pack runs low.

Bentley’s first-ever hybrid model will be the Bentayga. The gas-electric SUV is expected to make its debut next year, and it will go on sale globally shortly after. Technical specifications haven’t been released yet. It will be closely followed by a plug-in version of the next Continental GT that we expect to see before the end of the year. The drivetrain will be built around a V6 engine but it will deliver as much power as the current, V8-powered model.

Buyers who aren’t ready to go hybrid will still have the option of ordering the coupe with an eight- or a 12-cylinder engine under the hood.

Ronan Glon
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ronan Glon is an American automotive and tech journalist based in southern France. As a long-time contributor to Digital…
Honda unveils sleek electric sedan and SUV prototypes at CES 2025
Honda 0 Saloon and Honda 0 SUV prototypes.

Honda’s next-generation electric vehicles are a step closer to production. At CES 2025, the automaker unveiled prototypes of the 0 Saloon and 0 SUV, the first two of its 0 Series EVs that will start rolling off assembly lines in Ohio next year.

The two EVs follow 0 Series concept cars Honda unveiled at CES 2024. These are closer to what buyers can expect to see in showrooms, hence the label of “prototype” rather than “concept.” How close exactly? When Honda unveils a prototype, that vehicle generally makes the transition to production with minimal changes. But that would be particularly remarkable here.
They still look like concept cars

Read more
Digital Trends’ Top Tech of CES 2025 Awards
Top Tech of CES

Las Vegas is overrun. Every billboard in town is shouting about AI, hotel bar tops now sport a sea of laptops, and after hours The Strip is elbow to elbow with engineers toting yard-long beers.

That means CES, the year’s biggest tech bacchanalia, has come to town, and Digital Trends editors have spent the last four days frolicking among next year’s crop of incredible TVs, computers, tablets, and EVs. We’re in heaven.

Read more
Sony and Honda’s Afeela 1 EV makes more sense at CES than in the real world
Afeela 1 front quarter view.

The Sony car is almost here. After its creation via a joint venture with Honda in 2022 and two years’ worth of prototypes, the electronics giant’s Afeela brand is finally taking reservations for its first electric vehicle, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2026.

But will it be worth the wait? Coinciding with the opening of reservations, Sony Honda Mobility brought updated prototypes of the Afeela 1 (as it’s now officially known) to CES 2025, representing what California customers (Afeela is only taking reservations in that state) who put down a $200 refundable deposit can expect when they take delivery.

Read more