Luxury carmaker Bentley had a document 12 months in 2020 as different automakers struggled in pandemic

Bentley Motors offered a document variety of its luxurious sedans and SUVs final 12 months as the remainder of the auto trade struggled to stem losses from the coronavirus pandemic, the 101-year-old carmaker stated Tuesday.

The Volkswagen-owned firm offered 11,206 automobiles in 2020 — regardless of a seven-week closure of its manufacturing unit in England through the top of the Covid-19 pandemic final spring. The firm offered 11,006 vehicles in 2019.

Bentley sells a few of the most costly and uncommon vehicles on the planet. Its entry-level SUV, the Bentayga, begins at round $180,000, whereas its most unique mannequin, the Mulliner Bacalar, sells for round $2 million.

Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark stated he’s “cautiously optimistic” relating to enterprise in 2021 “as much remains uncertain,” in keeping with a press launch. He stated final 12 months’s gross sales document is a “strong measure” of the corporate’s potential because it pivots to turn into a completely electrical automobile firm by 2030.

Sales within the Americas rose by 4.2% and remained Bentley’s prime market in 2020, however its development got here from a whopping 48.5% gross sales soar in China. The two markets accounted for 53% of Bentley’s gross sales in 2020, in keeping with the corporate. That offset gross sales declines within the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East in 2020.