Bentley doubles down on its aspirations for full electrification
AT THE STROKE of midnight last Thursday here in Manila, across the world in the railway town of Crewe in England, the management board of luxury automobile marque Bentley sat together to basically double down — and elucidate on — the company’s previously communicated “Beyond100” strategy.
First revealed in November 2020, Beyond100 “targets sustainable mobility leadership, reinventing every aspect of the business. (The) ambitious aim is to be end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030, with Crewe operations climate positive thereafter.” The “100” refers, of course, to a century of operations since Walter Owen Bentley set up shop with a rather straightforward goal of building a “a fast car, a good car, the best in class.”
Obviously, the world has vastly changed since the infancy of automotive, and today’s industry might appear as simply otherworldly to “WO” if the Bentley founder were alive today. But I digress; company executives say that “being at the forefront of progress is part of (Bentley’s) DNA.”
Averred Bentley Motors Chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark, “We may be 102 years old but we never felt younger as a company.”
And perhaps as youngsters are wont to do, Bentley is having a hard time keeping still. In fact, it is accelerating the pace of Beyond100 through the launch of (count ’em) five new electric cars — one each year — beginning in 2025. This “Five-in-Five” plan is seen to redefine its credentials as “the benchmark manufacturer in sustainable luxury mobility.” It is only happy to take the lead in this regard. The brand’s first-ever battery-powered electric vehicle (BEV) is set to be developed and built in the UK, and the firm is ponying up a hefty £2.5 billion to realize its sustainability vision over the next 10 years. Understandably, the brass is making a big deal of the fact that the automaker is not jobbing-out the aspects of its electrification but keeping it home “where all Bentley models are built and 4,000 colleagues work.”
Mr. Hallmark underscored how large an undertaking Bentley people are taking upon themselves. This “boldest strategy” as he put it entails the “reinvention of every product… over an eight-year period” until all vehicles are 100% battery-powered by 2030.
The executive shared how “cautiously optimistic” the company had been throughout 2021 amid “Brexit,” the COVID-19 pandemic, and the semiconductor crisis. Nonetheless, last year had been a banner year with record sales and financial returns, and Mr. Hallmark boasted that it marked the second year of double-digit growth for the company.
In a previous release, Bentley Motors reported selling 14,659 units globally in 2021 — up 31% from the year prior (11,206 units). Leading the charge was the Bentayga SUV — accounting for 40% of deliveries, followed by the Continental GT (33%) and the Flying Spur (27%). Of significance to the company’s electric aspirations is the fact that one in every five Bentaygas sold is a hybrid version. This illustrates the kind of openness to electrification — at the very least for Bentley buyers.
Bentley Director for Engineering Dr. Matthias Rabe explained that the Bentayga plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and the Flying Spur PHEV variants have an ability to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by a hefty 50% to 60%, and customers can look forward to all Bentley models having a hybrid version by 2024. While the Bentley powertrain is massively changing, Dr. Rabe maintained the “outstanding craftsmanship” is not — except, perhaps, for the increased use of sustainable materials in keeping with the company’s green vision.
Bentley Board Member for Sales and Marketing Alain Favey clarified that while sales have been on the welcome uptick, the company is ever aware of what it stands for. “We want it to be exclusive,” he declared. And even as Bentley looks to “sell cars everywhere in the world,” it continues to aspire to be “the benchmark in the luxury car market.”
The fact of the matter is that buyers are becoming more aware of their carbon footprint, and are examining how each facet of their lives is hewing to a pervasive concern for the environment. Customers in China and US comprised the bulk of Bentley buyers last year, and a new breed of luxury customers continue to emerge and take shape with that “conscious decision to require sustainability.”
In this regard, Bentley ticks all the boxes. Not only are the end products going to be environment-friendly; the entire ecosystem around it will be, too. In fact, the production facility at Crewe is referred to as the “Dream Factory,” a “digital, zero-environmental-impact, flexible and high-value manufacturing facility.”
The Crewe factory has already been certified carbon-neutral for three years now, but Bentley isn’t stopping there to get to its 2030 goal. It will increase the number of onsite solar panels from 30,000 to 40,000 in the next two years, and commits to further reduce water consumption, waste it sends to landfills, and other environmental impact. “Moreover, Bentley is investigating (the use of) sustainable biofuel in fleet cars, including Bentley’s iconic Heritage Collection. Bentley’s partners are also being encouraged to support Bentley’s goal of being end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030, with suppliers expected to meet minimum sustainability standards. This will extend to (the company’s) global retailer network, each aiming for carbon neutrality by 2025, possibly even sooner,” it reported in a media release.
Expectedly, a new mind-set and approach will call for newly skilled workers, and on that score, Bentley is also working full time. Bentley Board Member for Human Resources Dr. Karen Lange shared that some 30,000 learning activities have already been made to upskill its workers, “the biggest ever intake in early careers.” The company is also making strides with inclusion and diversity. “We see it as an essential business need,” she continued, and underscored that the goal is to have an environment where people feel they belong, and would like to work in. Ultimately it will attract talent.
As for the global challenge of semiconductor availability, Bentley CFO Jan-Henrik Lafrentz intimated that, so far, the brand has secured adequate supply through the Volkswagen Group to which it belongs. You could even say they’re a preferred customer, he declared with a smile. Mr. Lafrentz maintained that while “volume is not a trigger” for Bentley, he expects record sales and profits to continue this year. This is important as the firm wants to fully foot the bill of its own transformation.
Bentley is confident of reaching its 2030 goal — perhaps, one might contend, with even time to spare. Even now, some eight years away, when asked for a word to encapsulate the auto marque’s journey, Mr. Hallmark’s reply is telling.
“Excitement.”
