Bentley reintroduces electric spark to facelift Bentayga

Having the taken the covers off of the facelift Bentayga last year, Bentley has added a third model to the line-up in the form of the revised plug-in hybrid.

Arriving five months after the introduction of the range-topping Speed, the Hybrid, which replaces the slow-selling Diesel derivative, remains largely unchanged from the conventional model on the outside, apart from a secondary faux fuel door hiding the charging port.

The same applies to the interior which boasts the new 10.3-inch digital instrument cluster, the 10.9-inch touchscreen infotainment system, Heads-Up Display, a wide selection of materials and veneers, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless smartphone charger and the option of five or four seats with the latter consisting of two captain’s style chairs in the rear capable of extending by 100 mm when fully reclined.

Unique to the Hybrid though is a reworked throttle known as the Hybrid Efficiency Accelerator Pedal, new brakes designed to work in conjunction with the electric motor, three driving models; EV, Hybrid and Hold, the latter relying largely on the engine to charge and store voltage for the electric motor, an EV readout in place of the tachometer and mode specific displays within the infotainment system.

Like with the pre-facelift Hybrid, motivation is derived from a 3.0 TSI V6 combined with a 17.3 kWh lithium-ion battery pack that produces 94kW/350Nm for a total system output of 330kW/700Nm. Paired once again to an eight-speed automatic gearbox, the claimed all-electric range stands at 50 km with the battery taking two-and-a-half hours to charge from 0-100% when plugged-in to a fast charging station.

Going on sale later this year, no pricing or indeed South African availability was announced.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.