Bentley launched its first electric vehicle, the latest test of demand for the technology among the world's richest consumers.

The storied British car brand, which is owned by Volkswagen, unveiled the sport-utility vehicle at an event in London on Wednesday. It runs for around 375 miles on a charge, accelerates from 0 to 60 miles an hour in 2.9 seconds and will sell in the U.K. at the equivalent of roughly $230,000.

The model is called the Torcal after a Spanish mountain range. The name also nods to the torque for which EVs are known.

The launch is the latest move by one of Europe's luxury automakers to seek growth from EVs after being hit hard by a downturn in China and President Trump's tariffs. It comes weeks after Range Rover unveiled its own debut EV at a starting price equivalent to around $205,000.

Bentley Chief Executive Frank-Steffen Walliser said the Torcal ranked among the most important models in the brand's 107-year history and would serve as a blueprint for future models.

The company has poured money into the EV project in recent years, hitting its profit. Investments include a $465 million upgrade of its factory in Crewe, England.

The Torcal will sit at the more affordable end of Bentley's product portfolio, similar to the Bentayga, a larger SUV named after another Spanish mountain range that comes in combustion-engine and hybrid variants.

Bentley expects the new EV to be used as an everyday drive, rather than purely for special occasions. Walliser said the company's well-heeled customers often had multiple cars, including an EV from another brand. "I kick out the other one that is not a Bentley and replace it with this car," he said.

Around half of the prelaunch orders for the car are from customers who are new or returning to the brand, Walliser said, with a younger skew than the typical Bentley buyer.

The company didn't say how many Torcals it expects to sell, after years of costly revisions to manufacturers' anticipated EV sales.

"All predictions have been wrong so flexibility is key," said Walliser.

In a nod to tradition, the Torcal sports a prominent front grille-a feature long associated with British luxury cars-even though EVs don't have the big internal combustion engine that the feature was designed to cool. The panel is filled with illuminated diamond shapes, a longstanding motif in the company's designs.

Meanwhile, Bentley addressed the challenge of luxury-EV sound by getting musicians to imitate the rumble of its V8 engines using traditional Western percussion instruments.

Europe's luxury carmakers have taken different approaches to EVs. While brands that trade on comfort and aristocratic pedigree such as Rolls-Royce and Bentley have invested heavily, more performance-oriented badges such as Aston Martin, McLaren and Lamborghini have said they don't see a market.

"We'll do an EV when our customers ask us for one, and they're not asking us," McLaren Group CEO Nick Collins said in an interview this month.

The notable exception is Ferrari, which unveiled a debut EV in May. Its glass-heavy appearance, strikingly different from a traditional Ferrari, triggered a global social-media storm.

The luxury EV launches come as some of Europe's most prestigious brands battle a raft of challenges around the world. Sales in China, once the top market for many badges, have collapsed; tariffs have sapped profit from the U.S.; and some early EV investments haven't panned out, notably at Porsche, which is also owned by Volkswagen.

Bentley's operating margin-a key measure of performance for automakers-fell to 8.3% last year, having exceeded 20% in 2022 and 2023.

Still, it remains a relatively profitable part of the Volkswagen Group, giving it some protection from the cuts under way at the world's second largest automaker, including more than 100,000 job losses.

"There's a very simple rule at Volkswagen: If you're successful then you're kind of immune," said Walliser.