Luxury Automaker Bentley Is Going All Electric

Volkswagen AG VWAGY luxury automobile arm Bentley Motors said Thursday it is making a move towards full electrification of its entire model range by 2030.

What Happened: The move towards an electric vehicle-only future comes as the company pursues its target, dubbed Beyond 100, to be end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030, Bentley said in a statement. 

The British carmaker said that it will be releasing two plug-in hybrid models next year, while its first-ever EV will debut in 2025. 

Bentley plans "to provide extraordinary mobility for the next century.” The Crewe, United Kingdom-headquartered automaker noted it is “evolving from the world’s largest producer of 12-cylinder petrol engines to having no internal combustion engines within a decade.”

Why It Matters: The luxury carmaker says it “fully supports” Volkswagen's ambitions of going beyond the two-degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Volkswagen has plans to dominate the world market in electric vehicles with an investment of $13 billion by 2024, according to its CEO Ralf Brandstätter.

The German parent of Bentley has already launched its next generation of ID SUVs in Europe and the United States, with ID.4 going into production, as Volkswagen looks to take on Tesla Inc’s TSLA

In August, Hyundai Motor Co HYMTF announced Ioniq, a brand dedicated to battery electric vehicles. The South Korean company plans to capture 10% of the global market share by 2025.

Meanwhile, Chinese EV makers like Xpeng Inc XPEV and Nio Inc NIO are not losing any sleep over competing with Tesla or other global companies as they find success on home turf. 

Price Action: Volkswagen OTC shares closed 4.51% higher at $17.14 on Thursday. 

Photo courtesy: M 93 via Wikimedia