Chris Thompson

Senior Journalist

3 min read

Bentley has overnight touted its enviable financial position, posting its best third quarter profits yet, while also announcing increased sales in regions across the world.

The British marque, based in the town of Crewe in central England, has sold 11,316 cars in 2022 so far, having bested its sales in the first three quarters of the year last year by three per cent.

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This comes after a ten-year, €3 billion investment in the Bentley Crewe factory and development of its upcoming products began.

The investment is showing signs of paying off - so far in 2022 the brand has announced a €575 million profit, which is already ahead of its record annual profit of €389 million. The same time last year had the brand at a €275 million year-to-date profit.

Overall revenue is up 28 per cent year-on-year from €1.949 billion in 2021, to €2.490 billion this year, which Bentley claims is due to the popularity of new model variants and the (more expensive) customisation options offered by its coachbuilding arm Bentley Mulliner.

Leading the sales charge for the brand is, unsurprisingly, the Bentley Bentayga SUV, claiming 40 per cent of sales for the year so far. Bentley has benefited from the same SUV success as other brands (like BMW, Porsche, and more recently Lamborghini) since the introduction of the Bentayga in 2015. 

In addition, Bentley expects to see a strong finish to the year in terms of Bentayga popularity, thanks to the new Bentayga Extended Wheelbase (EWB), which so far makes up 40 per cent of Bentayga sales.

The next-most popular model for Bentley is the Continental, both coupe and convertible totalling 32 per cent of the brand’s sales, with the Flying Spur closely following at 27 per cent.

Across most of the world, sales for Bentley increased noticeably, though a significant 17 per cent drop in sales for China, Hong Kong, and Macau plus a 5 per cent drop across the Middle East, India, and Africa balance it out somewhat.

The region which saw the steepest percentage rise in sales for the brand was its home, the UK, where 1126 sales meant a 25 per cent increase over the 899 sales in the first three quarters of 2021.

The overall largest market for Bentley was the Americas (North and South) where 3154 cars were sold, 28 per cent of the brand’s total 2022 sales so far.

Chairman and CEO of Bentley Adrian Hallmark said  “while Bentley continues to tackle the challenges it faces in the global market, this latest set of financial figures shows strong results in most regions”.

“The continued growth in revenue per car supports the options and limited edition models created by Bentley’s in-house coachbuilder Mulliner and the positive customer reception to our increasing range of model derivatives. Furthermore, the launch of the new Bentayga Extended Wheelbase model is expected to further boost sales of Bentley’s luxury SUV.”

Chris Thompson

Senior Journalist

CarsGuide’s Senior Journalist Chris Thompson has never had a ‘real job’ outside being a motoring journalist, which makes him the perfect candidate to inform you about everything happening in the world of new cars. Even as a teenager, while studying journalism at university and stacking shelves at a Brisbane bottle shop, he became a contributor to Unique Cars Magazine in 2014. There he specialised in covering classic car events and writing stories of his own and others’ car ownership. Shortly after packing up his 1992 VW Golf GTI and moving to Melbourne, he worked stints as Deputy Editor at industry titles Australasian Bus and Coach Magazine, and Farms & Farm Machinery Magazine under then Bauer Media’s umbrella, but being a full-time motoring journalist remained his goal. After a few months in Melbourne, he became the first digital journalist at performance car title MOTOR Magazine in 2017. He soon got to grips with the new car industry, becoming probably the youngest full-time journalist and road-tester in Australia at the time, at just 22 years old. A few years at MOTOR saw him become a seasoned reviewer with a particular skill for on-road assessment, as well as becoming adept at video presenting and finding and writing left-of-field motoring stories, sometimes at a rate of several a day. He traded track days and supercharged V8s for family SUVs and fuel efficiency tests when he transferred across the office to Australia’s longest-running motoring publication, Wheels Magazine. There he continued to hone his skills as a reviewer driving mass-market cars with more seats and less power. He also ran Wheels’ news section for a high-intensity period during Melbourne’s infamous lockdowns. Now, Chris brings more than a decade of motoring journalism experience to the team at CarsGuide as a Senior Journalist. He joined in 2022 and works across areas ranging from the news desk and road tests to international new car launches. He also leads the editorial side of CarsGuide’s social media content. He doesn’t get nearly as much time in his 1989 Mazda MX-5 as he would like, as he’s usually behind the wheel of a new car, constantly familiarising himself with the increasingly fast pace the new car industry is changing. When he’s not working, he’s probably playing Australian Rules football, seeing live music, or answering everyone’s car questions at the pub. You can find Chris on LinkedIn and Instagram. Expertise Road testing New car news Performance cars Video presenting and broadcasting Social media content Education Bachelor of Journalism | Queensland University of Technology | 2013-2015 Featured Publications Unique Cars Magazine | 2014-2017 Australasian Bus and Coach | 2016 Farms & Farm Machinery | 2016-2017 MOTOR Magazine | 2017-2020 WhichCar | 2018-2022 Wheels Magazine | 2020-2022 CarsGuide | 2022-present
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