Bentley, owned by Volkswagen (VOWG.DE), is seeing some signs of
revival in the super luxury vehicle segment and expects sales
of premium cars to improve next year, one of its top executives
said on Friday.
"We can see some movement. There is some activity going
on," said Christophe Georges, chief operating officer of the
Americas division. "We expect the last part of this year to be
a little better."
He added, "2010 should be the start of a new business
cycle."
Georges, who spoke on the sidelines of a media event, was
in San Francisco to unveil the iconic British manufacturer's
new flagship model Mulsanne. The new sedan will replace the
Arnage, which starts at about $225,000.
The Mulsanne, aimed at the super-wealthy, will go on sale
in Europe next summer and will make its debut in the U.S.
market in third quarter of 2010. It will also be displayed at
the Frankfurt Motor Show next week.
Georges declined to reveal the price of the Mulsanne. The
least expensive Bentley, the Continental Flying Spur model,
starts at $191,500.
Based in Crewe, England, Bentley is also getting ready to
launch a sports car. The Continental Supersports can run on
ethanol and accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds.
Super-luxury carmakers, typically immune to the
boom-and-bust cycles that affect their mass-market
counterparts, were hurt in the past year by the fallout from
the credit crisis and the economic slowdown.
The wealthy shunned luxury cars during the recession as
they saw their net worth decline following the collapse in
financial markets and real-estate values.
Bentley's U.S. sales are down 57 percent to 863 units
through August this year.
"Luxury has a reputation for being immune to recessions,"
Georges said. "The (current) crisis has severely affected the
overall luxury market."
Bentley has seen customers put off purchases for hand-made
vehicles that take an average of nine weeks to build.
"Customers are there but they have postponed their
purchases because of lack of confidence", Georges said.
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