Bentley is designing its new EV around something product teams tend to underuse: the senses beyond sight.

Most brands obsess over what they LOOK like.

You know, logo, colours, typography and industrial design. The usual, obvious stuff.

Bentley is asking a broader question: what should a Bentley SOUND like, touch like and even put you in the mood to do?

For its new electric Torcal, Bentley has worked with Sensory Experiences, a research and design lab founded by Russell Jones, to orchestrate sound, lighting, haptics, climate, air quality and digital information around specific target emotional states.

The sound work is damn clever.

Instead of piping a fake V8 recording through the speakers, the team studied what gave Bentley engines their emotional character.

Rhythm and tiny mechanical imperfections emerged as important ingredients.

So musicians recreated that character with real drums, viola and bass guitar.

Even smaller sounds got similar treatment: one indicator sound originated with a leather hammer from Bentley’s workshop, while other audio incorporates the resonance of Lalique crystal.

And there’s solid science behind thinking this way.

Research on “crossmodal correspondences” shows that sound, shape, touch and other sensory cues interact to influence how we perceive products, often without conscious awareness.

There’s an interesting contrast with Jaguar and Ferrari, whose EV entries have attracted massive ridicule for appearing to break sharply from what folks associate with those brands.

Bentley’s approach is softer so far. Rather than making the new object itself the argument, it’s translating familiar brand qualities such as craftsmanship, rhythm, tactility and occasion into the electric experience.

One of the ideas I dig into in I Need That is that successful products create emotional anticipation way before rational analysis finishes its work.

That experience doesn’t have to enter through the eyes.

EVs created a sensory vacuum by removing vibration, mechanical noise and much of the drama associated with driving.

So Bentley saw that absence as design territory.

Every product maker ought to ask the same question.

Beyond what customers see, what should your product make them hear, touch, smell or physically experience?

Your brand probably fits more senses than you’re using.

If you’d like help creating and marketing products people feel compelled to buy, the product marketing consultants at Graphos Product can help.