Bentley battered by China decline

BENTLEY suffered a near 10pc drop in global sales as the British luxury car-maker became the latest victim of the Chinese crisis, writes Ray Massey.

Bentley reported it delivered 1,615 cars to China in 2015 – down 36pc or 945 cars from 2,560 in 2014 – and was ‘not immune’ to the general trading problems in the country. The dramatic fall in China dragged down the firm’s global sales tally to 10,100 – a 8.35pc fall from the record 11,020 achieved in 2014. That is the lowest figure since 2012 when 8,510 cars were sold, and is below the 10,120 achieved in 2013, though is the third largest sales figure overall.

It comes just a day after rival Rolls-Royce reported a 7pc drop in global sales following a 54pc fall in China.

A spokesman for Bentley, which is part of the Volkswagen group and employs 4,000 pople at its factory in Crewe, said the carmaker was was not immune from the ‘current challenging sales conditions’ in China.

The spokesman added: ‘Excluding China sales figures, Bentley maintained its recordbreaking performance in 2015 for the rest of the world.’

This included a ‘double-digit’ increase for Europe, gains in UK, Middle East, South Korea and Japan. Bentley bosses also insisted the fall was short-term and would not deflect them from their aim of doubling production to 20,000 vehicles a year by 2025.

This will be driven by the launch this spring of the £160,000 Bentley Bentayga 4X4 and a £130,000 ‘baby’ Bentley codenamed EXP10.