Bentley achieves record sales in 2020 despite Covid-related setbacks

Bentley has announced record sales for 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic forcing the British firm to shut its factory doors for seven weeks.

The firm returned total sales of 11,206 for the year – an increase of two per cent on 2019’s figures.

Though the company’s sales forecast was higher prior to the pandemic, Bentley has still managed to return the highest sales in its 101-year history.

The introduction of updated and new models has fuelled the increase, with America continuing to be Bentley’s number one region. This was followed by China, which posted an increase in sales of 48 per cent. Some 3,035 cars were delivered to the former, with 2,880 posted to the latter. Sales in the UK, meanwhile, totalled 1,160 – or 10 per cent of total sales.

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.”

The new Flying Spur was introduced in 2020 and the initial W12-powered version was joined by a V8 variant later on in the year.

Bentley’s core Continental GT and GT Convertible models continued to prove popular, accounting for 39 per cent of total sales. It ended the year as Bentley’s top-performing model line.

However, the firm’s Bentayga SUV was the biggest selling single model, accounting for 37 per cent of Bentley’s total sales.

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