8:25 pm, January 4, 2012
BENTLEY bounced back to pre-recession levels of demand during 2011, with strong growth in all major markets.
Globally, sales were up 37 per cent to 7003 for the calendar year with sales accelerating as the year progressed. December sales were 1059 (up 69 per cent on the same month in 2010), the best month since Bentley’s pre-recession record of 2007 and the second best month ever.
The US continues to be Bentley’s number one market with 2021 cars sold in 2011 with an increase of 32 per cent, while the UK saw an increase of over five per cent with 1031 cars sold.
Bentley’s chairman and chief executive, Wolfgang Dürheimer, said: ‘It has been a tremendously good year for Bentley. The dramatic sales growth reflects a global strength to the brand and a recognition of the quality, craftsmanship and engineering excellence of our cars.
‘We want that success to continue and, with a new Continental V8 set to attract new customers in 2012, have ambitious but realistic plans which reflect global economic conditions as much as our new product line up.’
The strong performance was the result of strong demand across the range, with the new Continental GT proving the most popular Bentley with 2404 GTs delivered – more than a third of Bentley’s total sales volume.
