STEERING BENTLEY'S FUTURE

New CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser explains his strategic direction for Bentley, including balancing potent V8s with new hybrids, an incoming full EV, and widening the appeal of its core models

- by STUART GALLAGHER

IKE MANY CAR MANUFACTURERS, BENTLEY Lis currently in the process of rewriting its electrification strategy, its hand forced by the glacial take-up of high-end electric vehicles by those with the credit line to buy such cars. It turns out customers who can afford to shop in Pyms Lane care more for V8s than they do battery cells and e-motors in their Bentley, and would rather buy a Renault 5 to tick their tax-efficient EV box.

As incoming CEO of Bentley, Frank-Steffen Walliser has the task of establishing what Bentley's product mix will look like in terms of internal combustion and batteries. Twelve months after replacing Adrian Hallmark, who departed for Aston Martin in the summer of 2024, Walliser's outlook for Bentley is becoming clearer, structured around the recently launched plug-in hybrid Continental GT and Flying Spur, and the company's first all-electric vehicle, which is heading for showrooms in 2027. We caught up with Walliser at the Montana launch of the new Bentayga Speed to understand his emerging vision.

'The Continental GT has more bandwidth for us to explore,' says the engineer who joined Porsche in 1995 and worked his way through a mix of motorsport and product roles, including delivering the 918 Spyder and being responsible for the 911 and 718 models from 2019. 'We can go further to the edges with the GT, to both extremes - luxury and performance, especially with performance. There is more we can offer. I don't mean to offer the same level of models as the 911, but certainly more variety to bring in more customers, not move them around from model to model. Continental GT Dakar anyone?