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Lavish spending on custom features from wood trim to bespoke paint jobs helped Bentley to report the second-largest annual profit in its history, as the carmaker delayed the release of its first all-electric model on Tuesday.
A record seven out of 10 buyers last year paid for personalised features worth in excess of €40,000, while several commissioned so many custom add-ons that they doubled the price of their cars.
One customer requested wood from his own forest be used in the interior, while another put €400,000 worth of carbon fibre on to the vehicle, the company said.
Levels of custom spend were “jaw dropping”, said chief executive Adrian Hallmark. “Previously it would be one person in Brunei, now we have a handful of people [for whom] we are actively engaged in creating one-off cars”.
Demand for bespoke cars helped offset a major drop in demand from China in the first half of the year, leading to a fall in Bentley’s operating profits to €589mn in 2023, from €708mn the previous year — a record due to a backlog of orders.
Bentley said profits in 2022 were boosted by unusually high production levels, as it also pushed back its electrification programme on Tuesday amid higher than expected demand for hybrid cars.
The Volkswagen-owned luxury brand will continue selling its hybrid models into the next decade, it said, watering down a previous plan to sell exclusively electric vehicles by 2030.
Delays to developing the software for its first EV, as well as stronger than expected demand for its hybrid models, has changed the pace at which the company will push towards selling only battery models.
“There is no question that [battery electric vehicles] are where we will head,” said Hallmark.
“But we have seen a definite change, not just in the UK, but globally in respect of regulations and governments taking a different view on the rate of movements towards full EVs . . . as well as an uptick in acceptance and demand for hybrids.”
Bentley had planned to launch its first full EV in 2025, then one more a year until the end of the decade, gradually replacing its engine-only and hybrid models. Now, the first battery model will be launched at the end of 2026, taking the process of renewing its line-up into the next decade.
The company “may have some hybrids for longer, maybe just for a couple of years,” Hallmark added.
“We’re not talking about 2035 or 2040, just a few years around the 2030 period. We are not walking away from carbon neutrality, or full EV, but we are going to expand hybrids. This de-risks us against a slower rollout of battery EVs.”
Sales growth of EVs has slowed across the world, impacting both mass market and luxury buyers. Aston Martin recently pushed back plans for its first mainstream battery car to 2026.
Last year Bentley sold 13,560 cars, an 11 per cent fall on the previous year but still the third highest in its history. Total revenues were €2.9bn, down 13 per cent year on year, while return on sales eased from 20.9 per cent in 2022 to 20.1 per cent last year.
Raising prices, cutting costs, and rising demand for higher-margin personalisations has helped the company mount a turnaround in the past five years. In 2019, the last year before the pandemic, Bentley made €65mn of profit on sales of 11,000 cars and revenues of €2bn.
