Bentley unveils £173,000 Torcal, its first fully electric car, with drum-based soundtrack

The launch marks a more tentative entry into the EV market than Bentley once promised. Bentley’s 4,000 workers in Crewe now know what the company’s electric future looks like, and it sounds like drums. The carmaker unveiled its first fully electric vehicle, the Torcal SUV, on Wednesday in London, backed by a £350 million investment in its Cheshire factory and a synthetic soundtrack built from recordings of live drummers and strings rather than a fake engine note.

The Torcal starts at £173,000, about $230,000, making it the cheapest entry point to the Bentley range and positioning it below the brand’s hybrid and V8 Bentayga SUV, according to The Guardian and other reports. The five-seat model rides on a dedicated electric platform shared across the Volkswagen Group, with a 113 kWh battery delivering up to 375 miles of range and the ability to charge from 10% to 80% in under 20 minutes on a 400 kW fast charger, Bentley said. Performance figures place the Torcal in super-SUV territory.

The standard model produces 810 hp and reaches 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, while the Torcal S pushes output to 875 hp and 995 lb-ft of torque, cutting the sprint to 2.8 seconds and raising top speed to 162 mph, according to Bentley and BBC reporting. Bentley deliberately capped acceleration, noting that most customers find anything more violent uncomfortable. The most distinctive feature is audible.

Bentley recorded orchestral timpani, viola and bass guitar to create what it calls the Dynamic Symphony, a soundtrack that rises and falls with throttle input and can be intensified in Sport mode or switched off entirely. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Bentley’s chairman and chief executive, said the company’s intention was always to make a Bentley first, not a different car just because it is electric. Walliser described the Torcal as one of the best Bentleys ever and said the model is designed to appeal to both EV refuseniks and younger customers.

About half of early interest has come from existing owners, with the rest new to the brand. Bentley has previewed the car in Europe, the Middle East and US states with high EV adoption, and plans a China launch campaign next year, according to finance.biggo.com. In 2024 the company abandoned plans to launch a new electric car every year from 2025 to 2030 and scrapped a goal of going fully electric by 2030, citing poor demand.

Walliser said there are no plans at the moment for a second EV, adding: “I revised so many long-term plans in the last 10 years that one has to be careful of it.” The investment was welcomed by Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds as the third win in just seven days for Britain’s automotive industry, following £500 million from McLaren and £170 million from Nissan.