► Bentley pushes the boundaries with its new EXP 15
► Will partially influence its first EV, due 2026
► But has Bentley stretched itself too far?
A British car brand making a wild, controversial concept? We’ve heard it before, haven’t we? Only this time, it’s not the Jaguar Type 00, but Bentley, which has just revealed its EXP 15.
Labelled as a ‘design vision’, you won’t be seeing a car like this outside a Bentley showroom anytime soon, but it will inspire what is undoubtedly the firm’s most important car this decade: its first electric car.
The ‘luxury Urban SUV’ will be revealed in 2026, and expect this concept’s sustainability focus and overhauled tech to undoubtedly make its way onto this EV.
It’s the first car overseen by Bentley’s new design director Robin Page, who joined in September 2023, though previously served as head of interior design at the firm between 2001 and 2013.
But does Page’s new vision of Bentley get our seal of approval, or is it simply a stretch of the imagination too far? We asked CAR’s team of writers what they thought of the EXP15.
It was spending time with former Bentley design director Andreas Mindt at Pebble Beach that opened my eyes to just how steady and risk-averse Bentley design had become. One of his predecessors, Stefan Sielaff, did a magnificent job with the third-generation Continental GT, unveiled in 2017, and it’s just as well: the current, fourth-gen car is effectively an update of the same thing (drawing heavily on Mindt’s Mulliner Batur). It’s the same story with the Bentayga, updated in 2020. Much of the exterior sheet metal was new but the look is so iterative you’d never guess it.
At Pebble Beach, above the hubbub of millionaires mingling, Mindt spoke passionately about the need to move away from traditional wealth signifiers and embrace a more contemporary expression of luxury. He didn’t get the time to make that happen (the VW mothership summoned him to Wolfsburg after less than a year at Crewe), but I suspect he’d be delighted with EXP 15, proof that his employer was listening and that his successor, Robin Page, is equally keen to let go the past.
‘Doing a Jaguar’ might be a little strong – Bentley has a very nice business to nurture (operating profit in 2024 was a cool €373m, the fourth best in the company’s entire history); Jaguar had nothing to lose – but for me, the need to re-focus was similar. A Continental GT is not a Jaguar S-Type, but it undoubtedly riffs hard on firmly 20th century ideas of what a quick, luxurious GT should look like. The EXP 15 reaches even further back for its inspiration, but the result is fresh, forward-looking and fascinating, heritage the lightest of touches on a piece of work with all the strength, presence and class required of a Bentley.
Was this necessary? Jaguar’s rebrand makes perfect sense, because despite what some talking heads will tell you, it’s a brand in need of a fresh start. It’s fallen out of favour, has no real iconic products at this point – and sales are falling rapidly. But not Bentley.
The brand from Crewe has solid brand recognition, competing with Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin and Range Rover in the Premier League of luxury British brands. The Bentayga is ubiquitous on Chelsea streets and training ground car parks, and the Continental – now even more refined – is the exact car Jaguar’s upcoming four-door GT wants to topple. Why then, is Bentley pawning it all?
The car itself reminds me of a CH-R and a Kia EV9, both interesting cars, but both products that aren’t oozing with the quintessentially British swooping lines and elegant ease that something like the Flying Spur and Continental currently do so well. Perhaps it’s a concept in its truest sense, and the ideas here will be watered down to the nth degree. Straight on the rocks, they’re a little too strong for this palette.
Obviously, Bentley’s stakeholders are seeing something that I’m not, but I can’t help but feel the new concept is change for change’s sake.
It’s a controversial moment for Bentley. Not in the design – I’ll let others pick up on that thread – nor even in the fact it’s an EV. People worried that owners wouldn’t want to have the hassle of public charging in these high-end electric cars, but Rolls-Royce has shown that this sort of wealth doesn’t let itself get bogged down in details like charging. The house has a wall box, the office has one, and they cover all eventualities.
Nevertheless, it’s a brave moment to do a saloon concept. I was with Lucid a few weeks ago and I got the sense the senior people there are itching for the Gravity SUV to reach critical mass, and fast, to give the company some vital sales. The EXP 15 offers Bentley a chance to get a sense of where it could head, now that the Mulsanne is dead, without the risk of trying to actually sell the thing, but I do wonder how much potential there will be for something real to emerge.
One last thought. Labelling the boot as capable of ‘upmarket picnic seating’. Really? I love a split tailgate as much as the next stressed parent, as they’re a godsend for de-welly booting the children without risking a week’s supply of socks in the mud, but I struggle with the concept of them being luxury picnic enablers. Any sense of upmarket alfresco dining frequently comes crashing into a horrible sense of reality as soon as a cork goes pop. Plus, on the Bentley, the boot doesn’t look like it’ll give any shelter from the rain, something that every Range Rover owner knows the value of.
Another month, another storied brand choosing to unveil a deliberately provocative concept trailing a future EV. Bentley – that most luxurious and traditional of British brands – has shown its wild side with the EXP 15, and it’s hard not to draw parallels with Jaguar’s radical Type 00 (and other, Bangle-shaped disruptors before). The shape-shifting profile; the extraordinary, brutish grille; the seeming rejection of trad Bentley design and discretion; the preference of dancing, active LEDs over static, fusty chrome.
This is a show car to upset the purists and, yet again, prove how profound forces are reinventing the motor car. It’s designed to reach think-different Asian buyers, to break moulds and show that Bentley can reinvent itself comprehensively. Will the production car look this radical? Nope. Will Crewe lap up shock-and-awe headlines and tap into previously untapped prospects? You bet. Smart move, I’d say.
Bentley’s new EXP 15 concept car feels like it’s taken a leaf out of Jaguar’s book — and honestly, that might be a smart move. Jaguar’s bold Type 00 divided opinion, but the controversy sparked huge conversation and, crucially, put the brand back on the map.
Bentley isn’t in the same precarious position Jag was — it’s not struggling with dwindling sales or a lack of standout models — but this design vision previews the brand’s first EV, making it one of the most important launches of the decade. So why not go bold? Why not take a drastic approach to drum up interest early?
This kind of polarising reveal guarantees press coverage, online buzz, and gets people talking about Bentley in ways they haven’t for a while. It may look extreme, but that’s the point — no one’s forgetting it. In a landscape where every car launch risks blending into the scroll, the EXP 15 stands out.
Bentley has enough legacy to take this kind of creative risk without undermining its credibility — and when the production EV arrives, people will already be paying attention.
Has Bentley ‘done a Jaguar’? I don’t think so. If anything, it’s the opposite. Whereas Jags have generally been rather beautiful and very appealing – until the silly concept, that is – I’ve always found that Bentley, on face value, embodies everything that makes me cringe about the car world.
Whether it’s all that upper-class Bentley Boys high jinks from a century ago, or David Beckham getting monogrammed upholstery, it all seems a bit daft and wasteful.
Also, make your mind up. You want to go ultimate posh? Get a Rolls-Royce. You want to go GT racing? Get an Aston Martin.
And yet… driving them has always been a delight.
I loved the late-model Arnage I drove for a couple of days. I loved the then-new Continental GT Convertible I blatted around North Wales. Even the grotesque Bentayga overcame my strong desire to rank it below every single one of its VW Group cousins – it just drives so well.
So from my perspective, Bentleys have always looked bloated or vulgar or clumsy, but driven really well and been delightful cars to sit in. The concept looks bloated and vulgar and clumsy, so I have very high hopes for it.
Not that I want to say my opinion is more valid than everyone else’s on the team, but, well, I am the only person on the CAR team who has seen the EXP 15 so far in person, seeing it today (July 8) at its swanky new design centre at Crewe.
Full disclosure, I’d seen photos of it beforehand, but thought I’d reserve judgment until seeing it with my own eyes. The fact that it was with the rear facing towards us as we walked into the ‘reveal room’ speaks volume, as that front grille is every bit as horrid in person. But I admire Bentley for pushing the boundaries. The actual silhouette is great, the rear is delightfully elegant. If a future Bentley looks anything like this (grille aside), I’d be delighted. Bentley customers are said to have demanded a bolder design and this concept delivers.
But the thing I love most is the interior and the designers’ acknowledgement that touchscreens aren’t everything, and customers want proper luxury. It’s got some beautiful design elements that blend digital with traditional Bentley values of luxury.
Robin Page, head of Bentley design, tells me he wants customers to be able to detox from a screen-filled interior if they want to, and it’s something that should materialise in its future production cars.
‘In 30 years I think we’ll be at Pebble Beach saying those cars [filled with touchscreens] were very of their time and haven’t aged well. I think we can change that.’ A phrase you can’t help but admire.
Well, the hardcore purists can cool their jets. The Bentley EXP 15 is ‘never intended for sale’ – it says so in the second line of the press release. But it’s great to see an established brand with a successful product portfolio tearing up the rulebook and having a go at something different. That Bentley can do this while still referencing its heritage is testament to how long it’s been around. And whatever you think about the way the result looks, taking the trouble to think about the future in a radical fashion stands Bentley in good stead for continuing success. Doesn’t it?
But what about those looks? I worry the EXP 15 has lost something of the imperious presence that current Bentleys project so well. The lines are all a bit lightweight, the roof reminds me of an R35 GT-R, and those gills on the side are pure Range Rover. The raised-saloon stance smacks too much of the recent Capri (how’s that working out for you, Ford?) while the bluff front end almost appears as if it’s been grafted on from another car. Shades of Mitsuoka, dare I say it? Sorry, old bean(s), I’m not sure I can bring myself to like it. However much I love that Bentley is putting such a bold face on its next iterations.
And let’s not forget the ‘virtual reality’ interior that’s been released alongside this full-size exterior model. Lots of neat details in there, and I like the emphasis on ease of entry and exit on the passenger side. The three-seater layout is a touch unnerving, though. The main passenger gets acres of space without being able to really share it – like some kind of homage to the lonely ultra-rich in our seemingly fated dystopia, there is instead a kind of separate pod for the driver with a second seat behind them, perhaps intended for a favoured lady-in-waiting or put-upon butler.
But I can’t imagine Jeeves and Wooster getting along with this experiment, and it somehow doesn’t resonate with the spirit of any fabled Bentley Boys as I picture them, either. James Bond’s imaginary Thunderball Continental II, however – famously described as ‘the most selfish car in England – that might fit the bill.