Why millennials aren’t really anti-car, and why most rich people ‘don’t buy luxury cars’ – according to Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark, who sees hybrid and electric engines as a way to sell even more motors, not fewer

With a long and storied past, British car marque Bentley may be blowing out 100 birthday candles this year, but it’s leader is looking confidently towards the next 100 years. It’s a future where the internal combustion engine is facing obsolescence in favour of electric model. Where governmental regulations are forcing car manufacturers to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions, as climate change is increasingly a hot-button political issue. And where ride-sharing services like Uber or Lyft mean car ownership is becoming optional.

I don’t believe millennials are anti-car. If you can’t afford something, you tend to say you don’t want it. Actually, it’s because you can’t afford itAdrian Hallmark, chairman and CEO, Bentley

Looking to future generations of luxury car buyers, some may believe that millennials don’t care about automobiles, but Bentley chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark defiantly refutes the claim. “I don’t believe they’re anti-car. If you can’t afford something, you tend to say you don’t want it. Actually, it’s because you can’t afford it,” he says.

“My point is that we change our tastes according to our means. I don’t believe this rubbish about everybody wants to share and not own. Some do, and some do in certain product categories, but I don’t believe that everybody will for every category. You like to succeed, you like to achieve, you like to own something.”

Investment in new technology and the development of electric vehicles has become a matter of survival in light of the growing masses of environmentally-conscious car buyers and policymakers. Therefore, Bentley has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into electrification. In 2019, it launched the all-electric and autonomous EXP 100 GT concept car that offers its vision of what luxury mobility will look like in 2035; and the Bentayga Hybrid SUV, the most efficient Bentley ever – with combined CO2 emissions of 79g/km, the brand’s inaugural plug-in hybrid car is the first step towards electrifying every one of its models by 2023.

By 2025, it has pledged to roll out its first fully electric vehicle. While autonomous cars are also gaining in popularity, Bentley’s customers apparently prefer to drive their automobiles themselves.

“Why would I spend £200,000 (US$257,000), £300,000 (US$385,000) or £400,000 (US$514,000) on a car that I’m not going to drive?” Hallmark asks. “The only reason I would spend that much on a car is because it’s the best driving machine for the purpose. We’re more on the experiential side than taking the steering wheel out of the car.”

Never be mistaken that wealthy people don’t care, because they’re amongst the most enlightened. But 99.3 per cent of high net-worth individuals don’t buy luxury cars. Why? It’s partly because they don’t represent their valuesAdrian Hallmark, chairman and CEO, Bentley

The technologies Bentley favours instead concern making things easier for the driver. These include low-speed assistance when driving in heavy city traffic, cruise control, connectivity for working when chauffeured via a system called SkyBridge – effectively six SIM cards interacting digitally to provide six times the mobile phone signal – and Bentley My World, a Facebook-like social network exclusively for Bentley owners.

Intent on reducing its environmental impact, Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe became the UK’s first carbon-neutral luxury automotive factory. It installed the UK’s largest solar car port comprising 10,000 solar panels – adding to the 20,815 rooftop panels already fitted – and now 100 per cent of electricity used to manufacture every Bentley is generated from solar energy or purchased as certified green electricity, with emissions that can’t be eliminated offset with carbon credits. It has been the fruit of close to two decades of work to make the Crewe site as energy and carbon-efficient as possible, as Bentley intends to become the world’s most sustainable luxury automotive manufacturer.

Are electrification and sustainability a way to bring young customers to the brand? “Definitely,” says Hallmark. “There aren’t two worlds – there are just different speeds of acceptance. Ten years ago, I didn’t even know what a CO2 footprint was, so as soon as we get more information, we change. Tobacco advertising on race cars was acceptable; it’s not now. We move on.”

However, it’s not just about attracting new clients, but also existing ones who won’t keep the same mindset that they have today. “They too will change,” he states. “[Our clients] are super wealthy, with five or six cars in the same price range, and will change one or two per year. But it’s because they are huge in industry, business, the arts or something else, so they’re at the leading edge of thinking, too.

“Never be mistaken that wealthy people don’t care, because they’re amongst the most enlightened. But 99.3 per cent of high-net-worth individuals don’t buy luxury cars. Why? It’s partly because they don’t represent their values. They don’t want to be seen in a big car that’s environmentally questionable, so hybridisation and then electrification will open up the market for more value sets and more customer types.”

Recently, Bentley announced a new continuation series of Sir Tim Birkin’s iconic 1929 4.5-litre Team Blower racing car, which its Mulliner bespoke and coachwork division will reverse engineer to produce 12 new cars identical to the original. In his aim to produce historically-relevant replicas, Hallmark also hopes to recreate the EXP1, Bentley’s very first car made in 1919, and build a business carrying out classic restorations for customers.

“I think the heritage and the future fit perfectly together,” he points out. “There’s a clear link between them. I’ve seen a Bentayga with a vintage Bentley on a car trailer on the back. That is the dream team. If we can get every customer to buy a new one and a classic one, I’d be very happy.”

And who knows, one day we just might see Bentley converting its existing historic cars into electric vehicles. It’s early days yet, but Hallmark acknowledges this is one area the brand is looking into. A “classic electric”, anyone?