Bentley Needs China's Help to Double Its Sales
Bentley is aiming high with its proposed goal of doubling annual sales by 2017. The English luxury automaker has a long road ahead, but will be helped by the U.S. resurgence in car sales and especially by the boom in China.
“I am assuming a robust, double-digit growth for 2012. I expect growth of more than 10 percent for Bentley in China and the United States in 2012,” said Bentley CEO Wolfgang Duerheimer. In 2011, Bentley’s American sales grew 32 percent while the companies Chinese sales almost doubled.
Bentley is also hinging on its new SUV to help grow sales into a new untapped market. Trying to stay conservative, the company is predicting annual sales of the new SUV to start at the 3,500 mark.
New markets will be a large factor for Bentley to achieve its goals, with Russia, India, and South America all being discussed as potential growth areas. Mainland Europe will be targeted heavily as last year Bentley sold almost as many cars in the UK alone as it did in all of mainland Europe.
The latest developments in the Chinese market tell us that sales in China are slowing down and the Chinese government is trying to make it harder for foreign automakers to succeed in their country. These anti-foreign cars measures will no doubt have some affect on Bentley, but we can’t tell how much of a problem it will pose.
Stephen covers all of the day-to-day events of the industry as the News Editor at AutoGuide, along with being the AG truck expert. His truck knowledge comes from working long days on the woodlot with pickups and driving straight trucks professionally. When not at his desk, Steve can be found playing his bass or riding his snowmobile or Sea-Doo. Find Stephen on <A title="@Selmer07 on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/selmer07">Twitter</A> and <A title="Stephen on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/117833131531784822251?rel=author">Google+</A>
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