Demand for luxury goods may be outstripping mass-market equivalents thanks to the widening income gap, but that isn’t helping Bentley Motors.
Sales, revenue, and profits at the Volkswagen Group brand all dropped by double-digit percentages last year from their record levels in 2022 as its growing base of ultrawealthy yet understated customers opted against buying a new car—and did so, according to the carmaker’s boss, to avoid flaunting their fortune.
“Even though our customers can still afford our cars, there was a level of emotional sensitivity that slowed down demand,” CEO Adrian Hallmark was quoted by CNN on Thursday as saying. Bentley did not respond to a request by Fortune for comment.
The U.K. luxury brand stands apart from its peers for its stately elegance symbolic of cool Britannia—one of the reasons it was a favorite carmaker of Queen Elizabeth.
Its customers are less likely to seek out the judgmental stares that come with owning flashier sports cars like a Lamborghini, whose customers prefer the ostentatious design baked into the Italian brand’s DNA. Even BMW’s own Rolls-Royce, whose combustion cars exclusively offer 12-cylinder engines, is less reserved than Bentley.
Yet times have been tough amid a cost-of-living crisis in the U.K. and Europe, where inflation has outpaced growth. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced the region to ditch its heavy reliance on Vladimir Putin for critical resources like energy and minerals, and their national economies are still enduring a painful readjustment as a result.
Sales of Bentley vehicles to customers in the U.K. and Europe—which together rival the U.S. as its largest market—fell by 18% and 15%, respectively. This exacerbated a separate malaise in China, where deflationary headwinds saw volumes drop by a similar amount.
Nevertheless, the 13,560 cars Bentley delivered to customers still amounted to its third-best-ever single-year result.
Hallmark leaves to become Aston Martin’s fourth CEO in 4 years
In a surprise move that could derail its cautious optimism for 2024, Hallmark stepped down from his post on Friday with immediate effect in order to take up the reins at British luxury sports car maker Aston Martin. He is expected to take over as CEO no later than October this year.
“In Adrian Hallmark, we are attracting one of the highest caliber leaders not just in our segment, but in the entire global automotive industry,” Aston’s executive chairman Lawrence Stroll said in a statement on Friday.
Hallmark presided over a staggering period of growth for Bentley, turning the company around from a massive €288 million ($312 million) operating loss in 2018 when he was appointed CEO to peak earnings of €708 million two years ago on the back of surging demand for its workhorse, the Bentayga SUV. In the process he reshaped Bentley’s strategy to focus on making it the most sustainable brand for ultra-luxury vehicles by the end of this decade.
He will have his work cut out for him at Aston. In January 2020, Stroll led an investor consortium that initially rescued the struggling brand. But the rudderless company has not found peace ever since veteran CEO Andy Palmer departed in the immediate aftermath, with Hallmark now set to become the fourth CEO in as many years.
