Bentley posts record sales as luxury car market looks set to ride out cost-of-living crisis
Bentley has broken another sales record, as it delivered over 15,000 vehicles for the first time in its 104-year history.
Over the past 12 months the luxury car maker sold 15,174 vehicles – a 4 per cent up on the record levels of 2021.
The significant growth was driven by the introduction of new models as well as an increased demand for vehicle personalisation.
The Bentayga SUV remained Bentley’s best-selling model, as it accounted for 42 per cent of total sales.
The luxury SUV was followed by the Continental grand tourer and the grand tourer Convertible, which accounted for a third of sales.
“In what was another year of unpredictability, the business overcame significant headwinds and demonstrated great resilience to deliver the third consecutive record sales year,” Adrian Hallmark, Bentley’s chief executive, said.
“The numbers are validation that we not only lead the sector in sales and market share, but also investment in electric technologies and commitment to being carbon-neutral in 2030.”
Bentley announced in 2020 its Beyond 100 strategy, which aims at transitioning to the production of battery-only models from 2030.
The Crewe-based car maker is the latest luxury car marque to report bumper sales in 2022, after rivals Rolls-Royce and Jaguar Land Rover posted positive results yesterday.
Rolls-Royce reported over 6,000 annual sales – the highest in its 118-year history – while Jaguar Land Rover’s wholesale levels – which represent the number of cars sold to dealerships –have gone up 15 per cent compared to 2021.
According to Hargreaves Lansdown’s senior investment and markets analyst Susannah Streeter, the positive sales results are a sign that wealthy customers will not be impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.
“The luxury end of the market looks set to ride out the cost-of-living storm, as wealthier consumers have much deeper pools of resilience to dip into,” Streeter told City A.M.
Her remarks were echoed by Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor, who told CityAM luxury car sales appeared “to defy the broader doom and gloom in the wider global auto market.”