• Bentley is enjoying its third consecutive year of sales growth.
• The Bentayga SUV is once again the brand's top model, accounting for 42 percent of the company's sales.
• To rack up three years of growth in the midst of a pandemic portends good things for Bentley going forward.
Since 2019, and right through the pandemic, Bentley has continued to enjoy year-over-year sales growth. If you were looking for more evidence that the gap between the world's most affluent and the average person is widening, here's another clue.
In 2022, the luxury automaker sold 15,174 vehicles, up 4 percent from 14,659 units in 2021. Not surprisingly, the most popular vehicle was the Bentayga SUV. It accounted for 42 percent of the company's results in 2022, compared to 40 percent the year prior.
Obviously, the arrival of the model six years ago has contributed greatly to the company’s rising sales performance. It's also a reflection of the economy as more and more consumers can afford this type of luxury product.
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The Continental GT (coupe and convertible) was the second-best selling model with 30 percent of sales, with the Flying Spur accounting for the rest of the automaker's sales in 2022. Of note, the new hybrid variant of that model accounted for a third of its sales. In the UK, it was the choice of two-thirds of buyers, more than anywhere else in the world.
Once again, though, America was the engine behind Bentley’s growth. While sales were up less than one percent, 28 percent of Bentley’s global sales were in North America (4,221 vehicles). China, Hong Kong and Macau came second with 4,033 units sold, representing 25 percent of the brand's sales. Europe follows with 19 percent, followed by Asia Pacific with 13 percent and the UK with 10 percent.
For Bentley, it was clearly a time to pop some champagne. Said com-pany Chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark:
“In what was another year of unpredictability, the business overcame significant headwinds and demonstrated great resilience to deliver the third consecutive record sales year. This underlines our brand strength, operational excellence, and strong global demand by market and model.”
And all this in the context of a pandemic and a difficult time for the industry. It is true, however, that in situations like this, luxury manufacturers are often not hit as hard.