Bentley to benefit from synergies with Audi, CEO says

Bentley is switching motherships and the change is designed to smooth out the century-old British brand's electrification drive.

The ultra-prestige marque famous for racing, powerful motors and grand tourers will benefit more from being controlled by Audi than by Porsche because Audi better fits its focus on luxury, Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark said.

Volkswagen Group, which owns all three brands, is transferring oversight of Bentley to Audi from Porsche on March 1. The change will "allow for synergies to be achieved as part of the electrification strategy of the two premium brands," VW said.

"We will have much more synergies with Audi in five to 10 years' time than with Porsche because Porsche is sportier and we are more on the luxury side than the performance side," Hallmark said.

Bentley is expected to move the bulk of its lineup to VW Group's PPE premium electric architecture, whose development Audi is leading. Last month Bentley said it would drop internal combustion engines from its cars and SUVs by 2030 and switch its entire model range to full-electric vehicles.

Bentley's first full-electric vehicle is due in 2025. It will use the same platform as a new flagship electric car for the Audi, Porsche and Bentley brands code-named Landjet that is being developed under Audi's Artemis project.

Hallmark said VW Group had not decided whether Audi's oversight of Bentley will follow the same nonbinding governance role used by Porsche or whether Audi will take a share in Bentley. "That is not yet determined," he said. "But we see this as an opportunity, not a risk."

Bentley's new relationship with Audi will mark a change in the way it uses VW Group platforms. Currently, Bentley uses the Porsche-engineered MSB platform for the Continental GT coupe and convertible and Flying Spur sedan, and the Audi-developed MLB platform for the Bentayga SUV.

"With the current cars we had to get into the engineering of those architectures after they had largely been done," Hallmark said. "The difference now with this new electric architecture is that we are right at the beginning of the definition of what it needs to achieve."

Bentley's EXP100 GT concept, unveiled in 2019, showcases the automaker's design ideas for a long-range luxury electric grand tourer. Bentley has hinted that a production EV will ride higher than its traditional coupes and sedans.

Hallmark said Bentley was not contributing financially to the PPE platform development or dictating its direction. "But what we can do is give them our detailed requirements from an engineering point of view from day one," he said.

Bentley struggled to adapt aspects of the more performance-focused MSB platform for the Continental GT and Flying Spur, including integrating Porsche's PDK dual-clutch gearbox, delaying the cars' launch.

"One of the challenges we underestimated is getting the refinement of that gearbox for a luxury application," Hallmark told Automotive News Europe in 2018.