It would appear that the recession is over for the super-rich with news that Bentley has enjoyed its best yearly sales since 2007. In fact with first deliveries of the new soft-top Continental GTC model going out in December the final month of the year was the second-best month ever for the Crewe manufacturer.
In total some 7,003 new cars were sold in 2011, representing a 37 per cent increase on the previous year. As expected the US continues to be Bentley's biggest market with 2,021 cars sold, but China confirmed its place in the world of the super-rich by nearly doubling its year-on-year sales to 1,839, making it the second biggest market for Bentley.
Sales in mainland Europe grew to 1,187 cars led by a remarkable 88 per cent growth in the German market. Even the UK saw an increase in demand of five per cent.
"It has been a tremendously good year for Bentley. The dramatic sales growth reflects a global strength to the Brand and recognition of the quality, craftsmanship and engineering excellence of our cars," commented Bentley's Chairman and Chief Executive, Wolfgang Dürheimer. "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."