Bentley has a name of its first fully electric car: Torcal. The British brand confirmed it today, along with a teaser image of the rear of the electric vehicle, promising a full reveal on September 23, 2026. Much more important than the name, however, is the fact that this is Bentley’s first fully electric car. Specs are scarce until the official reveal, however, Bentley is willing to let it slip that this 18-foot-long SUV will have a range of over 300 miles.

The word Torcal was already on the radar of Bentley watchers. Earlier this year, trademark applications showed that Bentley had registered both “Torcal” and “Barnato” in Europe and the United Kingdom, filed against motor vehicles including electric cars, charging cables and charging stations. Barnato, a nod to 1920s Bentley obsessive and racing driver Woolf Barnato, was considered the favourite. Bentley has gone the other way.

Like the Bentayga and other Bentleys before it, the name Torcal comes from a natural landmark, El Torcal de Antequera in Andalusia, Spain, a limestone landscape of stacked rock formations. Conveniently, Torcal also has auto connotations, as it is derived from Latin torquerewhich means to rotate, which is where the word torque comes from, which describes the force of rotation.

First look

WIRED was invited to a secret reveal of the Torcal, near Bentley’s UK headquarters. While much of the information provided that day cannot be shared yet, I can say that this new electric SUV is similar to the Bentayga in that the lineage between the two is obvious. The Torcal is a little smaller, with the characteristic long hood and upright forehead. Of course, the well-known Bentley rear hips also appear above the wheel arches, but perhaps not as well resolved as on the Bentayga.

Still, it’s an attractive, powerful and purposeful-looking SUV, with a switchable glass sunroof and new light clusters. You can see how different the Bentayga’s taillights are in the teaser image: going from the familiar oval shape to a clean line. However, unlike the Bentayga, the roofline at the rear drops down, which is now becoming common in EV design as it means less drag and increased range.

Up front, perhaps the Torcal’s most striking visual element is the new grille: a radiator vent is replaced by a solid wall of illuminated glass with a design seemingly influenced by the face of the Continental T. It’s a bold touch that’s deliberately unsubtle, a far cry from the move toward quiet luxury.

Once inside, thanks to the integral power doors, it’s nice to see that Bentley’s designers got the message about the switches. Buttons for important functions are mixed with OLED screens. The central screen curves pleasantly downwards, similar to that of the new Cayenne. Interestingly, Bentley hasn’t followed other high-end manufacturers in offering a separate passenger screen, and I’m sure there won’t be an option for this.

The cemetery to which Torcal is heading

Bentley president and CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser calls the Torcal “the most thoughtful car” in Bentley’s history, and it will have to be. Whatever the final specifications of the electric vehicle, it comes at possibly the worst time yet to sell a premium electric car.

Lamborghini shelved its electric Lanzador GT this year after concluding, in the words of CEO Stephan Winkelmann, that demand among its buyers is “reaching almost zero, if not zero.” Ferrari’s first electric vehicle, the Luce, wiped billions off the company’s market value within hours of its unveiling in Rome, and Ferrari has now delayed its second electric model until 2028.