'People are looking for a British luxury car': Bentley rules out Chinese electric car and plug-in hybrid technology from the Volkswagen Group

Bentley says it will not leverage the Volkswagen Group's close ties with SAIC and XPeng to gain access to state-of-the-art EV tech or range-extender powertrains to help it succeed in markets like China.

Following fresh reports that fellow luxury brand, Maserati, is in high-level discussions with both Huawei and JAC, Bentley boss Frank-Steffan Walliser was quick to rule out any possibility of borrowing any tech from China, however cutting-edge.

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"[But] people are looking for a British luxury car."

Walliser went on to say that buyers look at both the product and the content and that both had to remain true to Bentley, and that it's the same reason the 107-year-old brand had not simply relocated some of its assembly lines to the US to avoid the recent tariffs that reportedly cost it €42 million (A$68 million) last year alone.

While Maserati thinks that the addition of a range-extender hybrid powertrain and JAC's latest pure-electric power for models like its all-new seventh-generation Quattroporte will help it finally win over Chinese buyers in a way previous models haven't, again, Walliser isn't convinced.

"We already have a very nice range extender. A 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 with a very small battery. I feel this is perfect", said the CEO, referencing the firm's latest Ultra Performance Hybrid powertrain that was launched on models like the Continental GT Speed, GTC convertible and Flying Spur.

Despite producing as much as 575kW and 1000Nm of torque, each model can only drive in EV mode up to 80km on a single charge, a long way off the 200-400km some luxury limos are capable of with their range-extender hybrids, which feature bigger batteries and only employs a combustion engine as a generator, rather than driving the wheels.

It's not just a long zero-emission range that sees Chinese buyers favour range-extenders over a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) from the likes of Bentley and other Euro brands.

Range-extended hybrids as well as EVs attract both healthy purchase incentives and tax breaks, while PHEVs are sometimes lumped in together with traditional petrol and diesel combustion engines and can see them be hit by license plate quotas, which means any potential owner has to enter an expensive and highly competitive lottery just to be able to register their car.

With Bentley's first-ever EV just a few months away, Walliser says he has high hopes for the Urban SUV that's being developed under the D-LEV codename, and believes its blend of innovative tech, styling, more compact footprint (compared to the Bentayga), generous levels of space and big power should prove a big hit in a segment yet to be explored by the brand.

"On our short to midterm strategy it's clear hybrid is right, but we will balance [our] portfolio by offering a fully electric car. What I'm very happy about is 20-25 per cent of the market is already electric. And we see a movement, and all our luxury competitors will soon have an electric car on offer. It would be a mistake to not offer one."

Sadly, for those waiting for a replacement for the largest Mulsanne limo, you might be in for a long wait.

Walliser: "I'm very, very often asked about Mulsanne, just not by customers and mainly by media.

"We've looked at it and there's no market."

Instead, the Supersports name introduced on the inbound rear-wheel drive Continental GT Supersports will spin off a new hardcore model variants based on core models, with a limited-run Continental GTC Supersports potentially already in the pipeline, hinted the Bentley boss.