Bentley's first electric car, the Torcal, will be revealed in the coming weeks as a luxury SUV that majors on "everyday usability". It will also introduce a radical new design language that sets the tone for the Crewe firm's future models.

The new model, which is in the final stages of testing ahead of its unveiling on 23 September in London, will effectively be a production-ready interpretation of the EXP 15 concept that Bentley revealed last year as a showcase of its new-era design language.

Like the Bentayga, Bacalar and Batur, the Torcal is named after a natural landmark, in this case El Torcal de Antequera, a limestone rock landscape in Andalusia, Spain. The moniker is also a nod to the Latin verb 'torquere', which means to twist and is the origin of the word 'torque'.

The 5m-long SUV will sit below the Bentayga in Bentley's line-up. Defining features that were previewed on the earlier show car include a striking illuminated grille panel, new-look vertical LED quad headlights and - as the first official preview image reveals – the so-called "prestigious shield" at the rear, which is modelled on the luggage carriers fitted to vintage Bentley tourers.

While it's similar in silhouette to Bentley's existing SUV and not significantly smaller, the Torcal is wholly distinct in its design. It is not intended as a replacement for the V8-powered Bentayga, which will remain on sale and gain a new combustion-powered generation in 2028, in line with Bentley's strategy of offering a multi-powertrain offering globally.

The Torcal was originally scheduled to make its market debut last year but was pushed back in light of weak demand for electric luxury cars. The other EVs that were due to follow it have been similarly delayed, with Bentley scrapping its earlier plan to go all-electric by 2030.

The firm will now instead launch a new plug-in hybrid or pure-electric model each year until 2035. Rival brands including Aston Martin, Porsche, Lotus and Lamborghini have also slowed their EV transition plans and now Bentley will be first to market with an EV in this price bracket.

The Torcal is expected to go on sale from around £170,000 - roughly halfway between the likes of premium propositions including the BMW iX and Volvo EX90, and full-blown ultra-luxury models like the Rolls-Royce Spectre and Ferrari Luce. Its closest rival will be the new electric Range Rover. Bentley believes now is the right time to launch its first electric car, despite the market uncertainty. It claims the new SUV will be "the right car in the right environment more of the time", touting day-to-day practicality as one of its defining attributes.

Bentley has confirmed it will offer a range of "more than 300 miles". Bentley director of design Robin Page previously told Autocar the Torcal will not chase any outright range records. "We're finding that there's a sweet spot in terms of range. Our customers are basically telling us that 300-350 miles is that sweet spot. Beyond that, they'll use the private jet," he said.

Underneath, the Torcal will be closely related to the Porsche Cayenne Electric, mirroring the relationship between the Bentayga and petrol-powered Cayenne.

Based on the same PPE electric architecture as its German cousin, the Bentley is set to take its power from a 113kWh battery capable of charging at up to 390kW, which in the Porsche allows for a 10-80% top-up in fewer than 16 minutes. Like the Porsche, the Bentley is expected to be dual-motor as standard, but Bentley has not yet indicated whether it plans to match the heady output of the flagship Cayenne Turbo, which has 1140bhp and 1106lb ft. The 657bhp of the mid-rung Cayenne S would seem more in keeping with the Torcal's refined remit.

Bentley has still to preview the cabin of its new model, but recent spy shots reveal it will feature the same curved central touchscreen as the Cayenne, portrait-oriented and split into two sections: infotainment at the top and climate control settings below. However, while this will be the largest screen yet fitted in a Bentley at 14.25in - it is unlikely to herald an all-out focus on digital controls.

The future-looking EXP 15 concept's cabin placed a renewed emphasis on physical controls to cater to the modern luxury buyer's analogue preferences. "What we're finding, especially at our end of the market, is that people are a bit bored with full-digital screens," said Page earlier, suggesting that Bentley may not offer a secondary passenger touchscreen, as Porsche does. "What makes us premium is to keep a good level of mechanical detailing that the others can't do."

Bentley will reveal further details in the run-up to the Torcal's debut in September, which will be around the time the electric Range Rover is officially revealed and just a few weeks before Jaguar takes the wraps off the long-awaited Type 01 GT - making it a landmark moment for the UK's automotive industry and taking the country's series-production EV count from two to five.

What will it sound like?

Bentley has long been synonymous with guttural V8 and barking W12 engines, and it remains to be seen how or whether it will fill the silence of an EV powertrain. However, CEO Frank-Steffan Walliser hinted at plans to synthesise some sort of powertrain noise in his acknowledgement that one of the defining traits of a Bentley is "a soundtrack with soul" and his pledge that the new EV will set "extraordinary benchmarks in every area that matters".

Other performance firms - including Hyundai's N brand, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche - have created artificial engine notes for their EVs to boost driver engagement, but that approach is unlikely to tally with Bentley's emphasis on authenticity. Another option could be the Ferrari approach: the Luce uses amplifiers and speakers to magnify the frequencies from its EV motors to give a powertrain soundtrack that's completely unsynthesised.