Bentley News: Bentley Puts An Electric Vehicle Under Consideration

[William Maley]

Bentley will be introducing their first hybrid next year with the new Bentayga SUV. But that's not the only alternative powertrain the luxury automaker is looking into. Speaking with Australian outlet Drive, Bentley's board member in charge of engineering, Rolf Frech said they are investigating whether or not to do an electric vehicle.

 

"We are currently in the stage where we are evaluating all the possibilities, but there are so many question marks behind this. I think there will be an answer within the next six months to a year to decide which direction we will go, but of course electric will be a future strategy direction for Bentley," said Frech.

 

One vehicle that could go full electric is the upcoming EXP 10 Speed 6. Frech said the model had a low center of gravity and going with an electric powertrain would offer the instantaneous punch that Bentley wants in a sports car. Frech went on to say the Bentley would have access to Porsche's Mission E platform.

 

"We not only have the ability to use the (Mission E) platform but we can also use a lot of these modules to bring into our car. I think there are big steps coming and what we are doing now is preparing ourselves if these steps make sense then we will go for it," said Frech.

 

In the meantime, Bentley is planning to offer a plug-in hybrid powertrain for all of their models in the near future.

 

Source: Drive

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[David]

I expect a considerable variety of EV power trains over the next 12-18 months as everyone looks to do a Tesla Competitor. This will only help push EV into more options.

 

GM will start with the Bolt and go up. BMW, MB and Audi I expect to push from the top down.

 

Going to be very interesting to watch the next couple years as to what comes out from the industry.

[Suaviloquent]

Everyone says Tesla competitor.

 

Really, the EV is burgeoning into its entire class of vehicle with many segments. The same as gas cars.

 

Does a Bentley compete with a Chevy because they both run on gas? Because that's what's being insinuated here. At the fringes EVs compete with ICE as well. So what's the point being made?

 

For christs sake, Tesla lives not really because of just how excellent its product is - it's because the company is so well differentiated. They don't just build a conventional car on top of a battery. They build cars so differently. There's not even a push button start, for example. The starts as soon as you sit down. See?

 

I just laugh how everyone says EV = Tesla competitor. Not always. Not everywhere

 

Tesla doesn't just build EVs. Factually, they build some of the best cars in the world. Worthy of their price. They already have autonomous ready cars - which they had to curb the features of because of the slow regulations.

 

It's all about market strategy. 

 

A person who has a Bentley in their garage also has a Tesla Model S and Model X already..... see? They're complementary products at that point NOT competing goods.

[Suaviloquent]

Anyways, putting Tesla in the companies of Bentley and Audis and Porsches...

 

does it increase the brand image of Tesla or does it bring down that of others?

 

Either way, pretty shocking, how a company, with its first in-house developed car can be catapulted with the likes of the most well recognized and prestigious automakers in the world.

[oldshurst442]

Yet...some still wanna dismiss Tesla...

 

Porsche comes out with an EV...

Tesla competitor that will eat Tesla's lunch they say...

 

Bentley makes an EV...

Tesla competitor that will steal Tesla's candy bar...

 

Chevy makes the Bolt...

Tesla competitor that will kick Tesla in the nuts...

 

Yet...unconsciously, these haters of Tesla are unknowingly giving praise to Tesla...

 

How?

Like You said Suave...they themselves acknowledge Tesla's presence by comparing Tesla with the supposed old guard greats...

 

"Either way, pretty shocking, how a company, with its first in-house developed car can be catapulted with the likes of the most well recognized and prestigious automakers in the world."

 

and its these very haters that seem to compare Tesla cars to the greats by actually admitting that Tesla is in competition to these cars...actually....they admit that the cars that Porsche, Bentley, Chevy will eventually bring out are TESLA competitors...TESLA, will acquire competition...Telsa will acquire competition...meaning Tesla is the benchmark that needs to be dethroned...

 

And they say...without any embarrassment,  that Tesla is but a blip on the radar...and rookies building cars...

 

And yet Tesla...is the ONLY pure 100% all electric vehicles on sale with 200 mile ranges...2 models...and counting...

With an engineered platform that is solely for voltage power...

 

Porsche's attempt is not for awhile...

Chevy's Bolt is from a Sonic...

The Volt is form a Cruze...

 

It is to laugh...

 

Tesla will continue to exist boys...

Because electric power is the future...and it seems the old guard has no idea how to achieve the future....they still half-ass the EV...

[David]

And yet Tesla...is the ONLY pure 100% all electric vehicles on sale with 200 mile ranges...2 models...and counting...

With an engineered platform that is solely for voltage power...

 

Porsche's attempt is not for awhile...

Chevy's Bolt is from a Sonic...

The Volt is form a Cruze...

 

It is to laugh...

 

Tesla will continue to exist boys...

Because electric power is the future...and it seems the old guard has no idea how to achieve the future....they still half-ass the EV...

 

I for one have never blew off Tesla and I do not thing the VOLT or BOLT is a Half-Ass EV or Hybrid. Even Porsche's EV will not be Half-Ass. That being said yes some here are blowing EVs off and many others see the future changing faster than most expect.

 

Embrace the future change, after all change is the only constant that will continue in the auto world.

[oldshurst442]

I may have been harsh with the half-ass comment....Im just a tad peeved that some of us cant have an adult conversation about EVs without resorting to adolescent thoughts of renouncing a car company and especially a technology that is actually the future. 

 

What I did mean about half-ass is that Tesla builds a DEDICATED electric car platform, Chevrolet adapts a regular gasoline powered platform for their full on electric car.

 

The only way I can actually say that a 30-40 thousand all electric vehicle could destabilize Tesla's Model 3 is if General Motors actually engineered the Bolt like Tesla is with the Model 3...

IE: A bespoke platform...

 

Imagine how much better a Bolt could be?

Yes I know...there are many ways one could engineer something that will yield the same results...

Problem is....

 

Tesla is actually the bench mark here.

The Model 3 is what the Bolt needs to beat.Not the other way around.

 

General Motors does not have a Model S competitor...

No...not ludicrous speed electric sedan...

But 200 mile plus range that seats 5 in comfort electric sedan...

As many as SUVs GM sells, none are pure electric...

Tesla, has one...

 

Congrats for GM for getting a small econobox style all out EV  to sell...

Tesla has 2 EVs out...and a third coming.

 

We could all find problems with gull wing doors on that SUV, but as of now...it is the ONLY game in town...

We could all find problems with a lacking EV product for the masses, one that GM beat Tesla to the market...however, s much as I think the Bolt will sell, I think many will wait until Tesla comes out with the Model 3...

 

Why?

 

Because Tesla has got game!

Tesla is fast becoming synonymous with electric cars...

Kinda like Coke, Kleenex, Windex, Vaseline, Aspirin, BandAid, Xerox...

 

In a very short time, Tesla rolls of the mouths of people...

 

While its true, financing and manufacturing new platforms for vehicles is vastly expensive, and I understand the fear for Tesla folding because of...those reasons...

But...their cars have to magically be NOT desirable for people to stop buying them in order for that to happen. 

And...their competition needs cars to compete with them...

 

So far....there arent any cars to compete DIRECTLY with Tesla...

 

The Bolt?

Sure...

 

But...what if the Model 3 cleans the Bolt's pipes?

What if...the Model X becomes the new "Escalade"?

 

Because I see a lot of fear mongering towards Tesla...

But Tesla has fast become a status symbol...what if...the fear mongering goes the OTHER way?

 

What if...the Model X steals Cadillac Escalade's thunder and becomes the SUV?

Stranger things have happened...

 

General Motors did go bankrupt...

Who ever thunk that would ever happen?

 

Ford also nearly went under...

Who thought that that the Detroit so called Big 3 would fail on the economy side of things?

 

Funny that some of us foresee Tesla going under...with much bravado information...yet some of us forget that the  "Big 3" had their asses handed to them by much smaller foreign companies...companies that today, have become huge...and yet...the same type of people DID laugh at those other smaller foreign companies during the 1970s and 1980s...

 

PS: This aint directed towards you DFELT...you and I are on the same page...

 

PSS: Im being melodramatic...its the Greek in me...but...its also me reciprocating  the doom and gloom  melodrama Im confronting here...

[Suaviloquent]

Actually, what the future competition has realized is that electric vehicles are harder to half-ass...

 

If you half-ass it, you're left with a Golf Cart.

 

Seriously, the Bolt will enjoy a lower center of gravity for having its battery down low. That's why it had decent handling, even for the beta prototype models.

 

Let me make another analogy. In no way are Rolls Royce and Bentleys half-assed. But we know that Rolls Royce existed before Bentley. They both build highly substitutable products. They're not commodity products. But live off of masterful differentiation. 

 

Really, all cars compete with one another at some fundamental level.

 

What Tesla has done, is that it has carved a name brand recognition among the likes of which no start-up automaker has been able to do, for a long time.

 

What does that mean? Tesla might become a take-over target by a larger automaker or other interested party. Why? Because their stock even right now is grossly overpriced. That means there's value inside the name brand and the technologies they have going which cannot be captured in the total value of their net assets.

 

A bigger parent could supply Tesla with all the support it needs. Put it another way... Tesla is closer to selling 500,000 cars a year beyond 2020, than say a brand that is equally or even more recognized, Maserati, is to selling 250,000 cars by 2020.

 

Looking at the big picture.... in some way shape or form, Tesla is here to stay, and you will see a Model 3 in customer hands before Porsche even comes out with their Mission E.

 

That's what people forget. The Bolt is nice. But it's also still about 12 months away. The time-table for electric vehicles is still until 2025 really before anyone expects them to have a real presence. And then 2050 becomes the hard cut-off for ICE powered passenger cars in many state jurisdictions.

 

Plenty of time, and plenty of reasons why electric cars make sense. Oh I also learned that Tesla's drive motors only have 3 moving parts. So you can have AWD with two dual motors, with no centre tunnel hump in 6 moving parts. Crazy, and that's what the other automakers are learning. Crazy is what describes just how different and better that electric cars can be.

[David]

If you all review the following links, Green Car did a sit down with the GM / LG folks about the Bolt. Some pretty informative info about how the BOLT was built from scratch and LG won the contract to build and test to engineering spec specific parts. Best part is the quote "We intend to do [better electric vehicles] better, more efficiently, and more cost effectively than anybody else can," Reuss said.

 

This story is the most recent released on Feb 3rd 2016.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1102176_bolt-ev-powertrain-how-did-gm-and-lg-collaborate-on-design-production

 

Here is the Official Release of info on the car in Jan 2016 at CES.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1101679_2017-chevrolet-bolt-ev-production-electric-car-unveiled-at-ces

 

This story was done in Oct 2015.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1100562_2017-chevy-bolt-ev-development-gm-lg-chem-reveal-deep-partnership

 

I have yet to find anything that says this is built on the Cruze platform. They make references to using the compact car expertise at the Korean Bought Daewoo company and having tested around the world mules built there.

 

My personal feeling is that the BOLT will be every bit as competitive as the Model 3 from Tesla. In fact, I think this will force Tesla to rush their Model 3 to market as GM is going to do well with this auto. I also think this is what forced all other auto companies to finally commit to building a 200 mile range more or less EV for the world market. 

 

I tip my hat to Tesla for pushing the EV agenda and I think they have a 50/50 chance of staying independent, but GM will push this to the next level and then some other company will push it again. Not sure if the Luxury makers like BMW or MB will end up doing it or someone else, but who ever becomes #2 to market with a 4-5 passenger 200 Mile range EV will benefit from GM blazing the $30K EV auto.

[oldshurst442]

The Volt...1st generation...was built off the Cruze platform.

The Delta II

 

Yup...that is what competition does, it pushes anyone who wants to compete to be better.

Everybody.

The underdogs, the champs, the newbies, the veterans...everybody.

 

Why are we always pushing Tesla out of the competition?

Yes....GM, Porsche and other car manufacturers will make Tesla squirm with their new product coming out.

But, isnt Tesla competent  enough to counter with new engineering solutions of their own to put the hurt on GM, Porsche and others?

All of a sudden, we are going in a direction where we are writing off Tesla's contributions and future engineering endeavors and finding comfort in the old guard' ways...

 

GM...is  CURRENTLY gonna recall 450 000 full sized pick-ups for faulty brake pedal assemblies....the brake pedals might fall off and well, that is a pile of not good...

 

What does a recall have to do with this...

Because...the old guard is just as susceptible and CAPABLE in fumbling the ball and just HANDING victory to its competition...

Tesla, independent or not...is here to stay...

And I would be betting my money on Tesla STAYING independent...

Why?

GM just announced that they will try to stretch the length of time in which they could use a platform...

THAT may make others to follow suit...

THAT BENEFITS Tesla a whole lot!

 

Thanx for the links, I will read them later as Im off to work.