Bentley Motors recorded sales of 11,206 in 2020, an increase of 2% over the previous year despite the challenges facing the automotive sector.

Although the pre-COVID-19 sales forecast was much greater, new model introductions fuelled this significant achievement which was the highest sales performance in any of the luxury British manufacturer’s 101 years.

Bentley production was shutdown for seven weeks beginning in March, and running at a 50% output for a further nine weeks thereafter, as social distancing measures were introduced.

A resulting comprehensive redesign of the production facility enabled Bentley to meet this global demand while in parallel maintaining these social distancing protocols to the current day and beyond.

The Americas remained Bentley’s number one region although a strong performance in China, posting an increase of 48 per cent, ran it close.

Commenting on the global sales results, Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and CEO of Bentley Motors, said: “Even though we anticipated greater sales before the pandemic struck, when you consider the level of restrictions around the world for the majority of the year, to achieve a record sales performance is a strong measure of our potential.

“As we look to the year ahead we remain cautiously optimistic as much remains uncertain. One thing that doesn’t is our commitment to progress, the first step of which is the launch of the Bentayga Hybrid. This is one of nine new models we will launch this year as we continue on our Beyond100 strategic path and our accelerated journey towards becoming a fully electrified car company by 2030.”

Key to the company’s ongoing success was the introduction of a number of exciting new models, combined with greater global availability of other popular models. In particular the all-new Flying Spur was launched internationally and received a phenomenal reception from customers and media alike.

This demand was increased further in October with the introduction of a high-performance V8 engine derivative.

The Bentley Continental GT (24 per cent) and GT Convertible (15 per cent) together accounted for 39 per cent of total sales, finishing the year as Bentley’s number one selling model line. However, in spite of the run out of the previous generation model, and delays to market entry of the all-new Bentayga due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pioneering, go-anywhere SUV was still the biggest selling single model, accounting for 37 per cent of total sales.

Bentley Motors
www.bentley.co.uk

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