The Bentley Torcal marks the British automaker’s first fully battery-electric vehicle, set to be revealed next month. While Bentley already offers plug-in hybrids across its lineup, including a plug-in hybrid V8 that replaced the Continental GT’s W12, the Torcal is the brand’s first model with no combustion engine on board.
Seen here in multi-hued dazzle camouflage and clad in plastic, the preproduction car is shorter in length and height than a Bentayga, yet remains similarly spacious inside thanks to the packaging efficiency of an EV. Its proportions may remind you of a Porsche Cayenne EV, and for good reason: the two share much of the same basic engineering, though Bentley has reworked it to suit its needs. The Torcal measures 5 meters (16 feet, 5 inches) long.
Range, Power, and Charging
Bentley is targeting the sports SUV segment. The company aims for 300 miles (482 km) of EPA range, or 600 km (373 miles) under the WLTP cycle. Like the Cayenne, buyers can expect 400 kW DC fast-charging.
Power figures stop short of the Cayenne EV’s four-digit output. “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,” said Martin Page, product line director for the Torcal. “There’ll be over 850 PS [838 hp/625 kW], but we’re not chasing four figures.”
Page said the calibration prioritizes effortless, confidence-inspiring performance rather than raw numbers. “Our calibration for the linear performance of the car has been focused on how do we make the progression feel effortless,” he said while driving a preproduction car around Pebble Beach during US localization testing.
A V8 Soundtrack Built by Human Drummers
From the back seat, you might not realize the Torcal is electric. “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.
After benchmarking competitors, Bentley turned to its own archive, drawing on the heavy, low-revving, high-torque engines from the Continental and Turbo. Rather than digitally sampling one of its 6.75 L V8 engines, the company took a more human approach. “We chose to use artists, humans to recreate the pattern,” Page said. Musicians played the V8’s firing order on drums to capture the natural variation of a real engine, which carries mechanical tolerances that produce an imperfect, organic idle beat.
The camouflage pattern seen on the exterior matches the shimmering backlight inside the cabin. Bentley will fully reveal the Torcal next month.
Source
Image: arstechnica.com
