Jasper Jolly THE GUARDIAN
Thu, 5 November 2020
Photograph: Lintao Zhang/Getty
Bentley, the luxury carmaker, will stop making fossil fuel cars by 2030 and aims to be completely carbon neutral at the same time, in one of the most ambitious plans of any UK car manufacturer in the transition towards electric vehicles.
It will stop building cars with traditional internal combustion engines within six years, instead making hybrids and then its first battery electric cars in 2025. By 2030 it will sell only pure battery electric vehicles, with zero-carbon exhaust emissions.
The rapid transition will mean that a company famed for enormous 12-cylinder petrol engines, with large carbon dioxide emissions to match, aims to become one of the UK automotive industry’s leading champions of environmental sustainability.
Bentley’s Crewe plant is the only major factory in the UK to commit to producing electric cars exclusively on such a tight timescale, apart from its competitor Jaguar Land Rover at Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich site. Workers on internal combustion technology will be redeployed.
Bentley’s promise to be an “end-to-end carbon neutral organisation” without using carbon offsetting is bold, as electric car batteries take considerable amounts of energy to produce. A spokesman said the company and its biggest suppliers would have to work out how to hit the target.
The carmaker, whose prices range from £130,000 to more than £240,000, said its environmental targets would make it “financially resilient and recession proof”, as it and other carmakers looked for ways to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, which has damaged car sales.
Related: 2020 set to be year of the electric car, say industry analysts
Figures published on Thursday showed last month was the weakest October for new UK car sales in nine years. The number of cars registered fell 1.6% to 140,945, putting the industry on course for the weakest year since 1982, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Electric car sales were one of the few bright spots, nearly tripling so far in 2020 to 76,000.
Bentley in June announced it would make 1,000 job cuts from its permanent workforce to reduce costs. However, it said it had scaled back the cuts to 800 staff, who were taking voluntary redundancy, 200 of whom were temporary contractors.
Adrian Hallmark, Bentley’s chief executive, said the carmaker was going through “a paradigm shift throughout our business”.
“Within a decade, Bentley will transform from a 100-year-old luxury car company to a new, sustainable, wholly ethical role model for luxury,” he said.
The carmaker will also commit to consuming no plastic at its factory by 2030, as well as to raising the proportion of women and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in its management ranks to 30%, from 20% in 2020.
Bentley is owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, the largest carmaker in the world by volume. Volkswagen has announced investment of billions of euros into electric car technology after the “dieselgate” scandal, in which its engineers installed software to cheat emissions test.
Volkswagen and all other European carmakers face steep fines if they do not reduce the average emissions of the cars they sell. By 2030 carbon emissions must be 37.5% lower than 2021 levels, which is only possible by mainly selling electric cars with zero exhaust emissions.
Bentley is particularly suited to quickly changing to electric technology, because bigger margins as a luxury carmaker mean it can absorb the higher cost of batteries, although analysts expect the premium for manufacturing battery cars to disappear by 2024.
Bentley kills off the internal combustion engine
Alan Tovey
Thu, 5 November 2020
Bentley, the luxury carmaker, will stop making fossil fuel cars by 2030 and aims to be completely carbon neutral at the same time, in one of the most ambitious plans of any UK car manufacturer in the transition towards electric vehicles.
It will stop building cars with traditional internal combustion engines within six years, instead making hybrids and then its first battery electric cars in 2025. By 2030 it will sell only pure battery electric vehicles, with zero-carbon exhaust emissions.
The rapid transition will mean that a company famed for enormous 12-cylinder petrol engines, with large carbon dioxide emissions to match, aims to become one of the UK automotive industry’s leading champions of environmental sustainability.
Bentley’s Crewe plant is the only major factory in the UK to commit to producing electric cars exclusively on such a tight timescale, apart from its competitor Jaguar Land Rover at Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich site. Workers on internal combustion technology will be redeployed.
Bentley’s promise to be an “end-to-end carbon neutral organisation” without using carbon offsetting is bold, as electric car batteries take considerable amounts of energy to produce. A spokesman said the company and its biggest suppliers would have to work out how to hit the target.
The carmaker, whose prices range from £130,000 to more than £240,000, said its environmental targets would make it “financially resilient and recession proof”, as it and other carmakers looked for ways to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, which has damaged car sales.
Related: 2020 set to be year of the electric car, say industry analysts
Figures published on Thursday showed last month was the weakest October for new UK car sales in nine years. The number of cars registered fell 1.6% to 140,945, putting the industry on course for the weakest year since 1982, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Electric car sales were one of the few bright spots, nearly tripling so far in 2020 to 76,000.
Bentley in June announced it would make 1,000 job cuts from its permanent workforce to reduce costs. However, it said it had scaled back the cuts to 800 staff, who were taking voluntary redundancy, 200 of whom were temporary contractors.
Adrian Hallmark, Bentley’s chief executive, said the carmaker was going through “a paradigm shift throughout our business”.
“Within a decade, Bentley will transform from a 100-year-old luxury car company to a new, sustainable, wholly ethical role model for luxury,” he said.
The carmaker will also commit to consuming no plastic at its factory by 2030, as well as to raising the proportion of women and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in its management ranks to 30%, from 20% in 2020.
Bentley is owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, the largest carmaker in the world by volume. Volkswagen has announced investment of billions of euros into electric car technology after the “dieselgate” scandal, in which its engineers installed software to cheat emissions test.
Volkswagen and all other European carmakers face steep fines if they do not reduce the average emissions of the cars they sell. By 2030 carbon emissions must be 37.5% lower than 2021 levels, which is only possible by mainly selling electric cars with zero exhaust emissions.
Bentley is particularly suited to quickly changing to electric technology, because bigger margins as a luxury carmaker mean it can absorb the higher cost of batteries, although analysts expect the premium for manufacturing battery cars to disappear by 2024.
Bentley kills off the internal combustion engine
Alan Tovey
Thu, 5 November 2020
Bentley's concept car
Bentley plans to kill off the internal combustion engine that have powered its luxurious cars.
The Crewe-based company famed for its petrol-guzzling 12-cylinder engines is going electric as it aims to become a “global leader in sustainable luxury mobility”.
Established in 1919, Bentley has become synonymous with big engines to drive its heavy cars, the cheapest of which starts at £133,000.
However, as part of the manufacturer’s “Beyond100” strategy, by 2026 it will no longer sell cars with only conventional engines.
The first all-electric Bentley will be introduced in 2025 and its range will all have either battery or hybrid engine drive trains. By 2030, it will no longer offer hybrids.
Moving away from its exhaust-belching roots will help the company face increasingly punitive levies for the amount of carbon that its cars emit.
Bentley plans to kill off the internal combustion engine that have powered its luxurious cars.
The Crewe-based company famed for its petrol-guzzling 12-cylinder engines is going electric as it aims to become a “global leader in sustainable luxury mobility”.
Established in 1919, Bentley has become synonymous with big engines to drive its heavy cars, the cheapest of which starts at £133,000.
However, as part of the manufacturer’s “Beyond100” strategy, by 2026 it will no longer sell cars with only conventional engines.
The first all-electric Bentley will be introduced in 2025 and its range will all have either battery or hybrid engine drive trains. By 2030, it will no longer offer hybrids.
Moving away from its exhaust-belching roots will help the company face increasingly punitive levies for the amount of carbon that its cars emit.
Bentley cars
The company described the plan would see it “evolving from the world’s largest producer of 12-cylinder petrol engines to having no internal combustion engines”.
Adrian Hallmark, chief executive, said: “Being at the forefront of progress is part of our DNA; the original Bentley boys were pioneers and leaders.
“Now, as we look Beyond100, we will continue to lead by reinventing the company and becoming the world’s benchmark luxury car business.
“Within a decade, Bentley will transform from a 100-year-old luxury car company to a new, sustainable, wholly ethical role model for luxury.”
Bentley is part of the Volkswagen Group, which is investing €40bn into electric vehicles and new technology as it pushes to be leader in sustainable transport and move on from the “dieselgate” scandal of 2015.
The company described the plan would see it “evolving from the world’s largest producer of 12-cylinder petrol engines to having no internal combustion engines”.
Adrian Hallmark, chief executive, said: “Being at the forefront of progress is part of our DNA; the original Bentley boys were pioneers and leaders.
“Now, as we look Beyond100, we will continue to lead by reinventing the company and becoming the world’s benchmark luxury car business.
“Within a decade, Bentley will transform from a 100-year-old luxury car company to a new, sustainable, wholly ethical role model for luxury.”
Bentley is part of the Volkswagen Group, which is investing €40bn into electric vehicles and new technology as it pushes to be leader in sustainable transport and move on from the “dieselgate” scandal of 2015.
FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen outside the Bentley Motors factory in Crewe
By Nick Carey
LONDON (Reuters) - Bentley Motors' model line-up will include only plug-in hybrids and electric cars by 2026 and will be fully electric by 2030, the British luxury carmaker said on Thursday, as the auto industry adapts to tighter emissions limits in Europe and China.
The 100-year-old company, owned by Germany's Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE>, said it would launch two plug-in hybrids next year as part of its "Beyond100" strategy to accelerate the development of electrified models.
Last week, Volkswagen announced a return to profit for the third quarter thanks to surging demand for luxury cars.
"Within a decade, Bentley will transform from a 100 year old luxury car company to a new, sustainable, wholly ethical role model for luxury," Bentley Chief Executive Officer Adrian Hallmark said in a statement.
In the summer, Bentley said it would cut up to 1,000 jobs, or nearly a quarter of its workforce, as the Crewe, northwest England-based company shifts towards an electric model line-up.
A draft document in September showed the European Commission wants to further tighten auto emissions limits, prompting a push-back from Germany's car industry, Europe's biggest.
(Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Mark Potter)
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