Tuesday, 3 January 2012 at 13:27, Bloomberg
Bentley, which was founded in 1919, had its best sales year in 2007, when it delivered 10,014 cars. (REUTERS)
Volkswagen AG’s Bentley super-luxury brand sold 37 per cent more cars last year as demand for the UK unit’s models “virtually doubled” in China, helping make the division profitable in 2011.
Deliveries increased to 7,003 vehicles, Crewe, England- based Bentley said today in an e-mailed statement. Sales in China amounted to 1,839 cars, making the country Bentley’s second-biggest market behind the US, it said.
The division has “ambitious but realistic plans which reflect global economic conditions as much as our new product line up,” Bentley Chairman Wolfgang Duerheimer said in the statement. The growth in established and emerging markets “is contributing to a positive financial result for 2011.”
Bentley, which was founded in 1919, had its best sales year in 2007, when it delivered 10,014 cars. The brand’s operating loss in the first nine months of 2011 narrowed to €6 million ($7.8m) from €145m a year earlier.
Sales growth is expected to continue in 2012, boosted by first deliveries of the new Continental GTC convertible, Bentley said. The model, which starts at $205,600 according to auto- pricing site Edmunds.com, helped push December sales up 69 per cent to 1,059 cars, Bentley’s second-highest monthly sales ever.
Full-year deliveries in the US rose 32 per cent to 2,021 cars, Bentley said. Mainland European sales jumped 53 per cent to 1,187 units, while “challenging” conditions in the UK held back growth in that market to 5 per cent, with 1,031 vehicles sold, Bentley said.
The Continental GT was the brand’s best-selling model, with 2,404 deliveries, Bentley said.
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