2028 Bentley Torcal Aims To Capture That Tangible Bentley Feeling

One of the most memorable, intimidating sounds in all of movie history are the drum beats in "Jumanji" that draw in unsuspecting children, enticing them to discover the board game and start playing. Sitting in the back seat of a camouflaged Bentley Torcal prototype, the SUV is emitting a similarly ominous and enticing thump-thump-thump-thump sound as it "idles" in the hotel valet lot.

I won't make a joke about the steady drum beat portending a stampede of horsepower, but the Torcal's sound does teleport Bentley into a new game of sorts. This is the automaker's first electric vehicle and its entry into a new market segment, plus the first car to wear its new design language, among other firsts. And it literally is the beat of a drum, as the Torcal's noises were created with the help of a real-life orchestra.

Instead of just imitating the V8 sound of a combustion-engine car, Bentley's engineers wanted to recreate the feelings those V8s give you in the way its sound rumbles and burbles and builds to a crescendo, and that attitude extends to the rest of the car. "Job one is to make a great Bentley, that's true to everything you recognize as a Bentley," product line director Martin Page tells me. In other words, the Torcal has to feel like a Bentley, in all the right tangible ways. After a forty-minute passenger ride around Monterey, the new electric SUV seems well on its way to delivering.

Full disclosure: Bentley flew me up to Monterey, put me in a nice hotel for a night, and fed me so I could ride in a Torcal prototype and drive the new Supersports on track.

Before getting into the Torcal, I do a few laps walking around it in the hotel parking lot, taking in all the details that are visible through the camouflage. It's based on the same Premium Platform Electric architecture as the Porsche Cayenne EV, and many of the hard points and components are the same — the positioning of the door cutlines, the side mirrors, the wheel arch trim, the charge port doors, the spoiler on the tailgate, and the regular door handles. The side glass in the doors also looks the same between the two cars, though the rear quarter windows are slightly different on the Bentley, with a sharper corner in the D-pillar.

Though the dash-to-axle ratio is the same and the two cars will certainly have identical wheelbases, the Bentley's nose is blunter, and its hood is flatter. The Torcal's rear overhang looks longer, too. Though Bentley has described it as an "urban SUV," this is not a small vehicle. It's about 197 inches long, a few inches less than a Bentayga, and it's lower in height than its bigger gas-powered sibling as well.

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There are a few bits of metal uncovered by the wrap, revealing apple green paint and squared-off front fender corners. The rounded headlights are just stickers, hiding the actual lights that will be more angular. Don't worry, the lights will still have Bentley's signature whiskey glass diamond crystal design — and did you realize the wrap is an image of light splayed through a refractor like that? There are broad shoulders and a jutting-out chin with a large rectangular intake, and the tailgate seems to have a bit of a scooped-out design. I can't see what sort of grille motif the Torcal has, but given how the area is blocked-off, I'm guessing it'll be an illuminated shield-like panel similar to the EXP 15 concept.

All four of the Torcal's doors are power-operated, and while you can pull on the handle or press a button in the headliner to shut them (or step on the brake pedal if you're the driver), you can also just click your seatbelt in place and your door will automatically close. It's pretty slick.

As Page sets off, the Torcal is nearly silent. In Comfort mode, the orchestral sounds are turned off; they come on in Bentley mode and get a lot more pronounced in Sport. You can also toggle the sounds on and off separately from drive mode. I'm a fan of all sorts of different EV noises, from the engine-replicating to the most spaceship-y, so I was already looking forward to experiencing the Torcal, and in practice I think it's quite fabulous.

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The idea for the Bentley Dynamic Symphony sound came early on in the car's development, and it was created by "world-renowned musicians" who performed with real instruments like bass guitar, drums, and viola. It's meant to evoke the same feelings as the V8 of the 1980s Continentals — Page says these were "the most clearly Bentley" when the team was researching its heritage vehicles' sounds — with the rhythm and energy of the drum beat matching the eight-cylinder rumble. Human imperfections in the performances make the symphony feel more natural.

Instead of being tied to throttle position or speed, the Torcal's sounds are generated based on the torque demand of the motors. Driving at a steady pace, the sound mostly fades into the background. Add in propulsion, and the sound builds up; likewise, for decelerating using regenerative braking. Page says this gives the driver more of a direct connection to understand the physics of the car and what it's doing. "Feedback is a fundamental part of accessing total performance," he says, and while I like a silent EV, it's definitely helpful to have some sort of noise when driving sportily. And Bentley wants its customers to really drive their cars to an accessible limit. Unlike its Volkswagen Group counterparts, Bentley isn't currently considering simulated shifts, with Page saying they're very happy with how the car behaves as-is.

There will be two variants at launch: the Torcal and the sportier Torcal S, the latter of which is what we're riding in. Bentley says the Torcal will be offered with over 838 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque, more than any Bentley before it. The S will have around 67 horses more than the regular Torcal, but that's probably not where the power will stop. The Cayenne Turbo makes 1,139 hp, and Bentley is sure to come out with a Speed model in the future that will probably pass the four-figure mark as well. Bentley says it'll weigh just around 6,000 pounds, basically the same as a plug-in-hybrid Flying Spur.

Page doesn't get on the throttle very much, but when he does, the Torcal feels very rapid without being too gut-punch-y in its acceleration. The engineers didn't benchmark other electric cars, instead using a Continental GT as the benchmark for the Torcal's chassis, steering, throttle and overall driving character, down to very nerdy specifics. Bentley is only using a two-motor setup, but every Torcal will come standard with all of the various dynamic and chassis features the PPE platform offers.

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All of the chassis components have been tuned specifically for Bentley, and that includes its version of Porsche's Active Ride, the fancy, hugely capable suspension system that does without anti-roll bars. The system could be calibrated so the Torcal handles totally flat, but that feels unnatural, so Bentley dialed in pitch and roll measurements from the Conti. Thanks to all the tech trickery, the suspension can be set so the car leans into corners, and when Page attacks an on-ramp at speed, the Torcal feels super buttoned-down and tightened-up. The active chassis allows for a bigger breadth of tuning, and stiffness can be added or lessened very quickly. With 22-inch wheels on the ride is firm, but it feels pretty dang close to Bentley's ride comfort benchmark of the Flying Spur. It's really quiet, too.

The range target is over 370 miles on the European WLTP cycle, so about 300 miles on the EPA cycle, though the Cayenne is far outrunning its EPA ranges in practice, and the Torcal probably will too. It'll have the same 400-kW DC fast-charging capability as the Cayenne, powerful enough to juice the Torcal to 80% in under 20 minutes. You'll be able to gain 100 miles of range in 7 minutes, which Bentley says is perfect for a coffee break on the way from Paris to St. Tropez — in a Torcal, the end-to-end time of making that trip is comparable to a gas car. The Torcal won't get the Porsche's optional wireless charging pad, which Bentley won't consider until there's some level of standardization to that technology.

As we got underway, we were allowed to lift up some of the camouflage pieces covering the dashboard and other interior panels. Sadly, this particular Torcal has a boring black and gray color scheme with lots of microsuede upholstery and accents, and carbon-fiber trim throughout. Yuck. At least it all feels appropriately nice, and don't worry, even with the microsuede schemes there's still a ton of real leather. I'm most excited to sit in a Torcal with the full sheep wool cashmere interior.

The floor isn't completely flat in the back, with a bit of a transmission tunnel hump, but there's a lot of headroom and legroom for my 5-foot-9 self. I wish the back seats were sportier or more sculpted, as they're comfortable but feel fairly flat. The front seats are lovely, though, and it seems like the Torcal has good forward and outward visibility. Both rows of seats have plenty of adjustability and massage functions. I'm not able to get a look at the cargo space, but it should be pretty huge.

Bentley's Electric SUV Has An Ultra-Lux Interior With Curved Displays #car #auto #cars https://t.co/6YLmwbSS5V pic.twitter.com/hwwFVbkaX7

— Carscoops (@Carscoop) June 27, 2026

Instead of the Cayenne's kinked screen, the Torcal's center screen has a more subtle, seamless curve to it. It looks very nice, especially with the full-screen map view pulled up. The gauge cluster is also a curved screen, another unique unit that has a hood covering it. A "detox mode" simplifies the gauge layout and turns the center screen off, with only a shining Bentley logo appearing on the black screen. Page says Bentley won't do a passenger screen, and in general the company won't go overboard when it comes to technology, instead focusing on "what's appropriate for the majority of customers." Still, this new infotainment system will be a much-needed upgrade for new Bentleys.

At the base of the center screen are knurled rollers controlling climate control temperature and fan speed, as well as another for volume, and buttons for the window defrosters and parking camera. Sadly, that's all set into a piece of piano black plastic, but at least the Curation Engine dial that changes the drive modes and has the start/stop button in the center is a lovely piece of design. There's lots of real metal trim pieces with a dark chrome finish, and even the window switches are made from knurled metal.

Disappointingly, the rear-facing air vents in the B-pillars are made from plastic. And the air vents may be the most controversial part of the Torcal. The round air vents in the dashboard use "air vectoring technology," with the direction of airflow being controlled through the screen. I think they look great, with the chosen trim being applied to their faces, but they aren't as classy as Bentley's current metal vents. The really big change? There's no more organ stops that you pull or push to control airflow. That's a damn shame. I'm fine with using the touchscreen to control the main vents, and I think the new diffused setup is pretty cool (and feels more than powerful enough), but I think the organ stops should still be there. Should be easy enough to add with a facelift.

The steering wheel is a new design, with its own physical buttons and knobs not shared with other Volkswagen Group products. Another controversial feature will be the column-mounted shifter and stalks, as the Torcal is using the same basic setup as the new Audi Q3. As my colleague Andy has explained, the strange-seeming configuration is great to use, and the Torcal's controls are unique to it, also using a knurled design.

One feature that Bentley isn't talking about yet are a pair of inward-facing cameras, one mounted on each A-pillar. All that Page says is that it's for an optional feature that will "monitor your well-being." My favorite detail is the ambient lighting, which for our drive is set to bathe the dashboard and door cards in warm light. The dappled light is animated with that same crystal glass effect as Bentley's headlights. It's really wonderful.

There's not much else I can tell you until the Bentley Torcal is revealed in London on September 23. But even given how rocky the EV market is right now, in the U.S. in particular, the automaker sees it as a growth driver, appealing to both existing Bentley customers and people who are new to the brand. When it goes on sale next year, it will have a slightly lower price point than the Bentayga, which starts at around $220,000.

At Monterey Car Week, I interviewed Dr. Matthias Rabe, member of the board for R&D, who said, "What was very important for us, I would say other than some of the competitors, is that we wanted to attract our customers from today, and probably new customers. I think it would be a mistake to say 'we only look for new customers and postmodern peoples.'"

Rabe said that everyone who's driven the Torcal says it's great, and Bentley has been very pleased with the positive feedback. Of course he'd say that, but he also added, "The good thing is, if you drive the car, if you talk with somebody else, you don't think, 'Is it electric, is it an ICE?' [You think] it's a Bentley." The team looked at all of Bentley's most iconic cars, from the original Blowers and Speed 6 to the '90s Contis and modern stuff, to figure out what really makes a car a Bentley, and the orchestral sound is a big part of that.

"I think we created a Bentley-ness that is very authentic, and you feel it," Rabe said. Even from the passenger seat of a prototype, driving fairly slowly around Monterey, I feel it too.