Bentley Motors has confirmed that it will continue to make cars with internal combustion engines beyond its previously trumpeted cut-off deadline of 2030.

The luxury carmaker, which is based in Crewe, cited a rise in demand for hybrid Bentleys — vehicles that can run off batteries for a certain distance but also have a petrol engine for longer journeys — after September’s decision by Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, to delay a ban on the sale of conventionally powered cars from 2030 to 2035.

Bentley said in 2020 that it would be a wholly electric marque by 2030, before many of its rivals. However, now, along with many of its peers, it is seeing slower-than-expected demand for pure electric cars and the company has conceded