Bentley sales reach record in 2013 despite China dip

THE luxury manufacturer introduced its new Continental GT Speed Convertible, but sales in China shrankBentley had a record year in 2013, with a 19% rise in global sales despite diminishing demand in China and a shrinking luxury car market.

The Crewe-based car manufacturer delivered 10,120 cars last year compared with 8,510 in 2012 and a touch above its previous peak of 10,014 in 2007.

Growth was achieved as Bentley introduced its new Continental GT Speed Convertible and the Flying Spur and came despite an estimated 6% contraction in the luxury car market as a whole last year.

Wolfgang Schreiber, Bentley's chairman and chief executive, said 2014 "will surely not be an easy year," but added that demand for its new and existing models should underpin further growth.

Bentley is part of Germany's Volkswagen group, and has the biggest share of the luxury car market, selling around one in four of all cars priced above €150,000 (£124,000). Bentley customers typically own seven or eight cars, and it is aiming to sell 15,000 cars in 2018.

Sales in the UK, Bentley's third largest market after the US and China, were up by a quarter at 1,381 cars in 2013. In Europe sales rose 11% to 1,480 cars.

Sales in the Americas were up 28% at 3,140, but sales were down 2.7% at 2,191 cars in China.

Kevin Rose, sales and marketing director, said there were a number of reasons for the drop in China sales, where it has experience rapid growth in recent years.

"There are pure economic reasons because a lot of the export business in China has suffered in the last year and a half.

"Equally there has been a lot of investment in infrastructure, in particular in real estate, which has not proven to be so successful so there's a little bit less cash around.

"Philosophically, it's less acceptable to show wealth at the moment and people are a little bit nervous about that. That I think will probably change. There is also some migration of high-net worth individuals moving out of the market, all of whom would be potential Bentley customers."

He said however that a high proportion of sales in places such as San Diego and Vancouver are made to Chinese nationals.

Bentley is hoping that new products, including the rollout of its Flying Spur, will help stimulate the market in the world's second largest economy in 2014. "I don't think we'll be helped much by the market," he added.

The company is planning to invest around £800m and create 400 jobs in Crewe as it develops the first Bentley SUV, the first of which are expected to hit the roads in 2016. It is estimated a further 600 jobs will be created in the UK supply chain.

A hybrid version of the SUV is likely to follow in 2017, Schreiber said.