Bentley Tapped Philippe Starck To Design Bentayga Hybrid’s Charger

With models ranging from the Continental GT to the Mulsanne, Bentley has proven itself capable of designing a wide array of vehicles. But for its latest product, it turned to an outside designer.

The British automaker tapped the talents of Philippe Starck – not for one of its vehicles, but for the charging dock built to accompany it.

The Power Dock for the new Bentayga Hybrid was penned by the legendary designer and crafted from sustainable materials like pressed “eco-linen” with thermosetting resin and an outer case made from hot-pressure cast aluminum.

With “tactile surfaces and inviting aesthetic,” the dock is designed to encourage owners to charge their plug-in Bentleys whenever they pull into the garage. It also features a cable management system to keep all the wires tidy, further enhancing the aesthetically focused approach.

“The relationship with a Bentley is not about bio-design or horsepower, it’s a mental and sentimental relationship,” said Starck, a longtime customer of the automaker’s. “As always with my designs I wanted the maximum of intelligence with the minimum of materiality. I wanted it to be a modern art piece: durable, real and avant-garde high tech. It was also important for me that the unit was as sustainable as possible.”

The charger is designed to work with the new Bentayga Hybrid just unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. The plug-in crossover pairs a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 to an electric motor to give it an electric-only range of over 31 miles (50 km). But while it’s the first, the SUV won’t be the last electrified Bentley on the horizon.

The company is also tipped to put the EXP12 Speed 6e battery-powered roadster concept into production in the next couple of years, and we won’t be surprised to see it employ the same Starck-designed charger when it does.