Super luxury car manufacturer, Bentley, has seen a slide in sales for two consecutive years. Sales have halved from a 10,000 cars in 2007 to 5,000 units in 2010. However, Bentley has beefed up its product portfolio with the Mulsanne and luxury coupe Continental GT. Also, with markets in the US and Europe on a recovery mode and emerging economies like China and India recording strong growth rates, Chris Buxton, regional director (India, Africa and the Middle-East) tells Sharmistha Mukherjee the company is looking at increasing quarterly sales numbers in the course of 2011. Edited excerpts:
Bentley has seen a decline in sales over the last two years. What is your outlook for the year ahead?
Markets in the United States and Europe are in a recovery mode. China is growing. India too, is proving to be an important market for us. We sold over 5,000 cars last year. This year, we expect a 25 per cent rise in sales, largely on the back of new models in our portfolio. We launched the Mulsanne last year and now, we have the new Bentley Continental GT. It is a cycle — whenever you introduce a new product, sales shoot up. We are hoping to sell around 7,000 units in 2011. Asian markets prefer four-door models. We expect the Continental GT to draw in customers, mostly in the US and European markets.
The super premium segment in India has seen a host of new entrants — from Bugatti to Koenigsegg and Maserati. How do you see segment evolving in the country?
The Indian economy is growing at around nine per cent year-on year. The automobile industry is posting strong growth rates and has now become the second-fastest growing market globally. The super premium segment sells around 700 cars annually in the country. Bentley has been growing by over 40 per cent in the last couple of years. We intend to sell at least 100 cars in the Indian market next year. There are other players who are eyeing the market here and competition is good. It will help in expanding the segment by offering varied options to consumers.
How do Bentley’s sales in India compare with sales registered on a global scale?
The United States is our largest market. China and Europe follow next. India does have the highest number of billionaires, but the propensity to spend in India is not as high as in some of our other markets. This could be because of the tax structure prevalent in the market here. The import duty and other levies amount to 110 per cent, which doubles the price at which imported cars are available in the market here. However, India is growing fast and it is possible that over the next five years, the country could feature among the top five markets for Bentley.
Super luxury cars account for high fuel consumption. Since there is a growing awareness about eco-friendly products, have you seen any shift in the attitude of your consumers for such products?
It is true that there is a green lobby which is actively advocating reduction in carbon footprints and promoting the use of eco-friendly products. There is an awareness among our customers. It is our strategy to support environmental concerns by making all our models compliant with Flexfuel technology by 2012. The technology would enable Bentley cars to run seamlessly on bioethanol, petrol or any combination of the two.