2022 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid.JAMES LIPMAN/Supplied
You want to roll your eyes at this car, don’t you? Go on, it’s okay.
This nearly $300,000 purple Bentley Flying Spur is nearly as long as a short school bus and outfitted like a private jet. The tip of its expansive hood is topped with the brand’s flying-B emblem, which – get this – lights up. It’s a useful feature actually, if only because the front of the car seems impossibly far away from where I’m seated behind the steering wheel.
The interior of this particular Bentley is finished in Porpoise, which I’m told by Bentley Motors is, in fact, not made from real porpoises, but just the name for this particular shade of grey.
Flying-B logo on the hood of the Flying Spur Hybrid.JAMES LIPMAN/Supplied
Perhaps this car’s only real gesture toward socially responsible behaviour is the fact that it’s a plug-in hybrid. It can travel roughly 35 kilometres on battery power, without burning a drop of gasoline.
Last year, while the rest of us struggled to stay sane, Bentley had a marvellous year. The brand’s sales jumped to 14,659 vehicles in 2021, up 31 per cent from 2020, which was itself a record year.
In case you need more proof that the pandemic has been very good to those in the top tax brackets, Porsche, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce also enjoyed record-breaking sales last year. For Bentley, though, the pandemic arguably came at just the right time.
Between 2017 and 2020, the British luxury brand managed a meagre return on sales of 1 to 3 per cent; it was a rough streak interrupted only by an even rougher €288-million ($410-million) loss in 2018. (Porsche’s profit margin through the same period never dipped below 15 per cent.) Plans to build an electric vehicle and a new sports car were delayed and cost-cutting began, under then-new CEO Adrian Hallmark.
Front seats and dash of the 2022 Bentley Flying Spur HybridJAMES LIPMAN/Supplied
Bentley hadn’t lived up to earlier sales expectations, either. In 2015, company executives were talking about selling 20,000 Bentleys annually by 2020. In reality, the brand sold 11,296 cars that year.
Finally, after several rough years, things came together in 2021. The luxury market was booming. The new Continental GT and Flying Spur were both in North American showrooms, commanding higher prices than ever, owing to supply constraints, according to Christophe Georges, president and CEO of Bentley Motors Americas. By July, 2021, the company had already turned a bigger profit than it had in any previous full year.
Georges credits three main factors for the recent success: the booming market, the brand’s fresh range of new vehicles, and the “Beyond 100″ restructuring plan that’s seen Bentley roll out more hybrid models and commit to going all-electric by 2030.
“Luxury brands in future will be sold more on values, not only on the product itself,” he said.
Whether it’s because of the vaguely socially responsible image or because people are realizing electric vehicles are fun to drive, wealthy customers’ opinions about EVs have changed rapidly. In 2020, only 30 per cent of the brand’s customers said they’d want an electric Bentley. Last year, 60 per cent said they’d want one, according to a company spokesperson.
Hybrid sales are rising too, now accounting for two of every five Bentleys sold. The Flying Spur is the second plug-in model to join the lineup, following the Bentayga SUV.
Hybrid motor on the 2022 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid. The hybrid system is similar to the one found in the Bentayga, as well as the Porsche Panamera and Cayenne.KELLY SERFOSS/Supplied
Official range figures aren’t out yet, but in EV mode, the Flying Spur hybrid can cover an estimated 30 to 40 kilometres before the 14.1 kilowatt-hour battery is drained. When you need more range or more power, the 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 engine kicks in.
The hybrid system is similar to the one found in the Bentayga, as well as the Porsche Panamera and Cayenne. An electric motor sits between the engine and gear box, powering all four wheels. Total output is 536 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque, which is significantly more than you get in the Bentayga hybrid.
The new twin-turbo V6 engine can sound strained in comparison with the silky 12-cylinder motor in the $279,800 Flying Spur W12, or even the $247,400 Flying Spur V8. Power doesn’t come as effortlessly with the plug-in. But, despite that, the hybrid model that starts at $254,800 is the Flying Spur to have, simply because you could commute short distances without burning any gasoline.
Back Seats and fold-down trays in the 2022 Bentley Flying Spur HybridJAMES LIPMAN/Supplied
Alternatives such as the Alpina B7 or Rolls-Royce Ghost are more powerful and more cushy, respectively, but those gains are marginal and neither rival is available as a plug-in hybrid. That’s a big selling point these days. The top-of-the-line Porsche Panamera hybrid is quicker, but less luxurious or comfortable. You might also consider fully electric sedans such as the Mercedes-AMG EQS or Tesla Model S, but neither of them has a cabin as nice as this Bentley’s.
Plug-in hybrids are a kind of middle ground, but the Flying Spur offers a winning compromise between extreme luxury and fuel efficiency. Bystanders may cringe as you waft past with the light-up flying-B hood ornament leading the way, but at least you can say you drive a hybrid.
Bentley’s found a small gap in the luxury car market, but the company’s future is far from certain. Nobody can be sure how long the pandemic-fuelled luxury-spending boom will last, and shifting to an all-electric lineup over the next eight years will be the biggest challenge the company has ever faced.
The writer was a guest of the automaker. Content was not subject to approval.
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