No V8. No exhaust note. A drummer, a bassist, and a viola player, recorded specifically to fill the silence 107 years of engine sound left behind. The Torcal starts at £173,000, making it Bentley’s cheapest model — and the company is betting first-time buyers, not loyalists, will be the ones writing that check.
By Joseph Adebayo
Bentley unveiled the Torcal Tuesday in London, its first fully electric car and the fourth model line in a 107-year history. CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser framed the moment directly: “For 107 years, Bentleys have been the most incredibly complete cars — effortless performance, outstanding comfort, exquisite British craftsmanship using the finest natural materials and a soundtrack with soul. Our car sets extraordinary benchmarks in every area that matters, and may just be the most considered car in our history.” The Torcal is Bentley’s most powerful production vehicle to date, and its cheapest, starting at £173,000 ($230,000) in the UK.
What’s Happening & Why It Matters
Musicians, Not an Engine, Built the Sound
Here’s the detail every reviewer led with. Bentley needed a soundtrack for a car with no engine, so the company booked musicians. Drums, a viola, and a bass guitar now stand in for a Bentley V8’s soundtrack inside the Torcal — a genuinely unusual engineering brief for a luxury car company that has spent a century making exhaust notes a design feature in their right. The development team found the rhythm of a Bentley V8 drove most of the appeal, and set out to recreate that rhythm using recorded instruments rather than synthesised engine sound.
That choice tells you what Bentley thinks a Torcal buyer values. A synthesised engine hum would have chased the sensation of a combustion car. Live-recorded musicians chase something closer to the emotional register Bentley wants a driver to feel, without pretending the car makes a sound it never actually makes.
888 Horsepower, 2.8 Seconds, and a Battery Built to Charge Fast
The Torcal launches in two versions. The S trim delivers 888 PS (876 hp) and 1,350 Nm of torque — the highest torque figure in Bentley history — with a 0-60 mph time of 2.8 seconds and a top speed of 162 mph. A 113 kWh battery running at 800V provides an estimated 375 miles (600km) of WLTP range. Charging at 400kW adds roughly 100 miles of range in seven minutes, and takes the battery from 10% to 80% in about 16 minutes — figures that put the Torcal ahead of Volkswagen Group stablemate Porsche’s Cayenne Electric, which tops out around 339 miles depending on configuration.
The Torcal marks Bentley’s first use of fully active suspension. Each damper adjusts independently and instantly, reacting to road conditions and driver input in real time. The system replaces anti-roll bars entirely, with the dampers providing adjustable anti-roll torque instead. Standard all-wheel steering, turning up to five degrees at the rear, shrinks the turning circle to 11.1 metres — a genuinely tight radius for a car measuring roughly five metres in length.
The Fourth Model Line, and Bentley’s Cheapest Car Yet
The Torcal joins the Continental GT, Flying Spur, and Bentayga as Bentley’s fourth model line, sitting below the Bentayga rather than at the top of the range. That positioning matters for how Bentley expects the car to perform commercially. Design Director Robin Page‘s team gave the Torcal a long wheelbase, short overhangs, and a new illuminated diamond grille borrowing from the Continental T — plus the first Bentley to carry the brand’s redesigned emblem.
Bentley expects younger consumers to be attracted to the car, including many first-time customers — a deliberate bet that the Torcal’s lower price and electric drivetrain open the brand to buyers who never considered a Bentayga or Flying Spur. That’s a real shift in strategy for a company built on legacy ownership and multi-generational customer loyalty. The Torcal carries a 460-litre trunk plus a 90-litre frunk, and a 10-year, 100,000-mile battery warranty.
A Decade in the Making
Bentley has discussed building an EV for close to ten years. The company floated a smaller electric SUV below the Bentayga back in 2017, and confirmed in 2024 that its first EV would arrive as a sleek urban SUV launching in 2026. The Torcal name comes from El Torcal de Antequera, a limestone rock formation in Spain — a naming choice consistent with Bentley’s pattern of drawing model names from distinctive natural landmarks rather than internal project codes.
Production takes place at Bentley’s historic Pyms Lane factory in Crewe, England, where the brand has built cars for decades. Keeping manufacturing at Crewe for the first EV signals Bentley treats the Torcal as a continuation of its production identity, not a separate electric sub-brand built somewhere new.
TF Summary: What’s Next
The Torcal is expected to reach customers in 2027, following its September 2026 reveal. Bentley has not confirmed a full order book timeline or region-by-region rollout schedule beyond the UK starting price. Parent company Volkswagen expects the Torcal to help improve Bentley’s profitability and establish a presence in the high-end EV market alongside rivals including Porsche’s Cayenne Electric.
MY FORECAST: Expect the Torcal to sell strongly among the first-time buyers Bentley is targeting specifically, given the combination of a lower price point, genuinely class-leading charging speed, and a torque figure that outperforms every prior Bentley model — a technical package that gives new customers real substance to justify the badge, not just the badge itself. The musician-recorded soundtrack will draw the most attention in early reviews, and expect at least one rival luxury EV maker to attempt something comparable within the next model cycle, once it becomes clear how much coverage Bentley’s approach generated relative to the more common synthesised-engine-sound route every other electric performance car has taken.
Related Stories
- The 2027 Q9: Audi’s Techy, Full-Size Luxury SUV
- Lucid Cuts 1,500 Jobs — Its Second Major Layoff of 2026
- JCB’s Hydrogen-Powered Car Sets New 406 MPH Speed
EXCERPT: Bentley unveiled the Torcal on 23 September 2026, its first fully electric car and fourth model line, starting at £173,000. The Torcal S delivers 888 PS, 1,350 Nm of torque, and a 2.8-second 0-60 mph time, with a 113 kWh battery offering up to 375 miles of range and 400kW fast charging. Bentley recorded live musicians to create the car’s soundtrack in place of an engine note, and expects the lower-priced model to attract first-time customers to the brand.
SLUG: /bentley-torcal-first-electric-ev-2026
SEO & META TAGS: Bentley Torcal first EV, Bentley Torcal electric SUV, Bentley Torcal price range specs, Bentley first electric car 2026, Bentley Torcal 888 PS torque, Bentley Torcal musicians soundtrack, Bentley Torcal 0-60 2.8 seconds, Bentley Torcal battery charging speed, Bentley Torcal active suspension, Bentley fourth model line Torcal, Frank-Steffen Walliser Torcal launch, Bentley Torcal Crewe production, Bentley Torcal vs Porsche Cayenne Electric, Bentley Torcal first time buyers, Bentley Torcal London reveal 2026
CATEGORIES: Automotive
IMAGE ALT TEXT: GP hero: “Bentley Torcal first electric EV reveal 2026”
FOCUS KEYPHRASE: Bentley Torcal first electric EV
RELATED KEYPHRASE 1: Bentley Torcal 888 PS torque specs
RELATED KEYPHRASE 2: Bentley Torcal musicians soundtrack engine
RELATED KEYPHRASE 3: Bentley Torcal battery range charging
RELATED KEYPHRASE 4: Bentley Torcal price first time buyers
META DESCRIPTION: Bentley unveiled the Torcal on 23 September 2026, its first fully electric car, delivering 888 PS, 375 miles of range, and a soundtrack recorded by live musicians.