Bentley’s Plug-in Hybrid Bentayga Will Debut in March

With a base price north of $200,000, it’s hard to make much of a value proposition for the Bentley Bentayga. Then again, few people in the market for an ultra-luxury vehicle like a Bentley or Rolls-Royce are committed to value in the same way a midsize family sedan buyer tends to be. But for shoppers looking to make sure their quarter-million-dollar luxury SUV has at least a small dash of practicality, Bentley plans to reveal a plug-in hybrid version at the Geneva Motor Show.

Automotive News reports that we’ll get our first look at the Bentayga Hybrid in only a few months. Details on the powertrain are still scarce, but it’s thought that Bentley will borrow the Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid‘s setup. Porsche’s system pairs a 326-hp, 2.9-liter, twin-turbo V-6 with a 134-hp electric motor to make a system total of 456 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. When fully charged, the Panamera E-Hybrid can drive up to 30 miles on electric power alone.

If we got to pick, though, we’d prefer for Bentley to borrow the system from the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid that uses a 4.8-liter twin-turbo V-8 to increase total output to 671 hp and 626 lb-ft of torque. Not that Bentley’s bothered to ask us.

Look for the Bentayga Hybrid to go on sale midway through 2018, giving Bentley plenty of time to drum up sales of the gasoline-powered V-8 version starting this month.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription required)

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