Serious roadside accident for Bentley!

It is always exhilarating to discover a new concept car, but the Bentley EXP 15, in trying too hard, forgets the essentials.

Bentley does not do things by halves with the EXP 15, an ultra-technological manifesto that marks the opening of its new design studio. A rolling laboratory meant to showcase the future of the brand, blending technological daring with aesthetic creativity. However, while the exercise impresses with its mastery, it also leaves a taste of unfinished business, if not disappointment, as the reinterpretation of Bentley’s identity seems excessive.

Inspired by the legendary Speed Six “Blue Train” of 1930, the EXP 15 claims to bridge the glorious past and the electric future of the brand. The result? A raised three-seat sedan that combines a retro vertical grille, an “endless” hood, a muscular rear, and futuristic lighting signatures.

We’ll let you search for the link with the Speed Six; we couldn’t find one. All of this could be appealing on paper, but in reality, the Bentley stylistic language seems here to be denatured. Classic elegance, just-guessable power, and discreet sophistication give way to an overload of volumes and aesthetic wanderings.

So shocking!

Technologically, however, the EXP 15 is a tour de force. The concept combines active aerodynamics, sculptural digital lighting, virtual reality, modular interior layouts, and exceptional noble materials such as silk jacquard, century-old wool, and… 3D printed titanium. One could have stuck with noble bronze. The interior, with its adaptive physical and digital elements depending on the driver’s mood, flirts with science fiction. And the asymmetrical “suicide” door opening position brings a smile with its very British theatricality.

But this enhanced luxury sometimes seems to verge on the absurd? The trunk transforms into a picnic lounge with a champagne bottle holder, a mechanical clock is integrated into a digital dashboard, and the door panels receive diamond-like lighting. The whole is as fascinating as it is disturbing, teetering on the edge of pastiche.

Bentley assures that the EXP 15 does not directly foreshadow the first electric model of the brand expected in 2026. And thank goodness! For while the concept conveys an ambitious vision of the grand touring of tomorrow, it struggles to convince as a desirable object. Bentley knows how to do grand luxury, but here, the soul has been lost in the stylistic effects. There is still time to return to the essentials… elegance!!!

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