Bentley believes it will double sales by 2020 with the arrival next year of its new luxury SUV.
The Volkswagen-owned brand recorded record sales last year and Chief Executive Wolfgang Duerheimer said he expects to increase sales to 20,000 a year by the end of the decade. He added: “We think the success of the SUV will lift us into a new dimension.”
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Sales chief Kevin Rose said that over 4,000 potential customers had already registered an interest in the SUV adding that a forecast of selling 3,000 a year could be “conservative”.
Last year Bentley delivered a record 11,020 saloons, coupes and convertibles, up 9% on 2013, with powered by demand particularly from China.
Duerheimer said that geopolitical risks made it impossible to project Bentley’s sales for 2015 but it was preparing for “a very strong year again”. Among those risks is the volatile Russian market which has been hitby slumping oil prices and Western sanctions related to the crisis in Ukraine. However, Rose said that sales there were in line with 2013 and he predicted a similar performance in 2015, around 230 vehicles or 2% of global volume.
The Americas remained Bentley’s biggest market last year, with China a close second, after sales there jumped 22% from the previous year despite analysts warning of an end to the country’s 10-year luxury car sales boom following a crackdown on extravagance by government officials.
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