Bentley launches first fully electric car - with fake engine sounds to replace classic growl

Bentley is launching its first fully electric car, the Torcal SUV, as part of a £350 million investment in its UK business. The model, positioned as Bentley’s most affordable vehicle, starts at £173,000 and will be built at the company’s Crewe factory, supporting 4,000 jobs there. While the Torcal can travel up to 375 miles on a charge, the headline feature is a synthetic “drum soundtrack” designed to replace the growl of a combustion engine, using recordings inspired by Bentley’s former eight-cylinder sound. Bentley CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser said the company expects to appeal to younger customers and electric “refuseniks.” The Torcal enters a limited luxury EV segment where Rolls-Royce’s Spectre starts around £330,000 and Range Rover Electric begins at £154,070.