Bentley more popular than ever: Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce vying for top sales in 2021

The Bentley Continental was the brand's most popular model in Australia in 2021.

Bentley Motors expects 2021 to be its biggest year ever as it caters to pent-up demand for its Bentayga SUV, Continental coupe and Flying Spur limousine.

Speaking to Australian media at a local showing of the facelifted Bentayga, Bentley Motors Asia Pacific CEO Nico Kuhlmann said the British marque is on track to beat Aston Martin, McLaren, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce this year.

“Despite the challenges of a global pandemic that we have all faced over the past few months, 2020 has been a record year for us globally with particularly strong performance in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

“We have delivered over 1200 vehicles to the Asia Pacific region, up XNUMX% from last year.

“Our six retailers in Australia performed very well in the first quarter of this year, making Bentley Australia's number one luxury brand.

"We are confident that we will continue to achieve another record year for Bentley, particularly in Australia."

After four months of trading this year, sales are up 23.1% year-on-year to 64 units, with the Continental being the brand's bestseller at 28 units, followed by the Bentayga at 26 units and then the Flying Spur at 10 units.

The only ultra-premium brand outperforming Bentley in Australia is Ferrari, which achieved 65 sales in '2021 but is down 18.8% year-on-year.

With updated V8-powered versions of the Bentayga, Continental and Flying Spur now on showroom floors, Bentley will look to launch 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12 variants of its SUV and sedan later this year to further boost sales.

Last year, Bentley Australia sold 165 vehicles, down 13.6% from 2019, but due to a shortage in inventory of the Bentayga SUV and complications related to the coronavirus, that number has dropped.

However, that hasn't stopped Bentley from breaking its world sales record by selling 11,206 units in 2020, which global boss Adrian Hallmark expects to be surpassed in 2021.

“Our previous high was just over 11,200 sales, we will be above that barring any component supply crises,” he told Australian media.

“Today I won’t give numbers, we don’t announce sales plans publicly, let’s just look back in about eight months and see how we fared, but we are in a good position.

“The range of incoming orders is higher than the speed of delivery to customers, so we actually increase the order bank every month, even though we have record deliveries to customers.

“In addition, as many dealers in Australia and other countries will confirm, we have a product shortage of about 30 percent. So, if you go to any showroom around the world right now, they are running with about a third less inventory than usual.

"And it's not because we can't build cars, we're building them at the fastest pace, but because they're all sold."

As for the reason why Bentleys have become so popular? Mr. Hallmark attributed this to the updated lineup and cutting-edge technologies that have taken the brand beyond what it was once known for.

“If you take a step back and look at our situation, then, firstly, we have a completely new range of products, every product is new in the last two years,” he said.

“It's all new architecture, all new electronics, all new powertrains, even the W12 is a brand new W12 dual injection system.

“And if you look at the style, the proportions of our new cars, you will see that this is a step forward compared to the past.

“Luxury has finally moved from a slightly whimsical, artfully crafted, endearing but slightly imperfect world to technical perfection as well as emotional excellence. And that's what Bentley is all about."