It was a year that hit many automakers hard but for Bentley, the past 12 months was a period of record performance in the showroom.
The British automaker ended 2020 with 11,206 deliveries, up from the previous record of 11,089 deliveries set in 2017 and an increase of about 2% on 2019's tally.
Helping to boost the numbers were the redesigned Flying Spur and Continental V8 enjoying their first full year of sales, as well as the arrival of an updated version of Bentley's best-seller, the Bentayga.
Bentley's forecast for 2020 was actually even higher than what it achieved, though the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic put a damper on things.
2021 Bentley Bentayga Hybrid
“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,” Adrian Hallmark, chairman and CEO of Bentley, said in a statement.
China was Bentley's single biggest market with 2,880 deliveries, or 26% of total deliveries. That was up 48% on 2019's tally.
Bentley doesn't provide a sales figure for the United States, but for the whole of the Americas, there were 3,035 deliveries, up 4% on 2019's tally and representing about 27% of Bentley's total deliveries for the year.
Looking at the year ahead, Bentley should enjoy strong sales once more, thanks mostly to the updated Bentayga which will have its first full year of sales in 2021. There should also be additional buzz thanks to the recent introduction of the redesigned Flying Spur V8. Bentley has also promised a second plug-in hybrid model to join the Bentayga Hybrid.
