Bentley surges to top of Aussie limo sales

UBER-LUXURY marque Bentley has become the top-selling luxury limousine brand in Australia for the first time in its history, official VFACTS sales figures reveal.

The German-owned British company delivered 19 new cars in November to forge ahead of more affordable luxury cars and usual sales leaders such as BMW’s 7 Series, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Porsche Panamera and Lexus LS in the upper large car segment above $100,000.

Driven by demand for its new Continental GT Coupe, GTC convertible and Flying Spur sports sedan – the latter billed as the world’s fastest luxury sedan – Bentley has attracted 105 customers so far in 2013 for a whopping 19.4 per cent segment share at the end of November.

This compares with second-placed BMW 7 Series’ 96 sales and 17.8 per cent share, and Mercedes-Benz S-Class’s 81 units and 15 per cent share.

The S-Class is expected to come home with a wet sail in December due to the arrival of the all-new model this month, possibly upsetting a fairytale ending for Bentley in its biggest year on the Australian market where its sales have grown 64.1 per cent in 12 months.

Bentley dealers have been taking orders for the 6.0-litre W12 Flying Spur since about mid-year, with a handful of deliveries arriving in the past three weeks.

Bentley dealers expect to deliver only 10 to 12 Flying Spurs before the end of the year, with the main impact of the new model expected to fall in 2014.

Many of the GTs and GTCs arriving in November were ordered up to eight months ago.

Last year, Bentley sold 65 vehicles in Australia, up on the 61 deliveries it made in 2011.

The segment leader over the past two years has been the BMW 7 Series with 138 sales in 2012 and 188 in 2011.

Owned by Volkswagen Group since 1998, Bentley Motors has expanded global sales by nine per cent this year, with almost a third of all deliveries going to its biggest market, the United States, where the Flying Spur has just had its official North American launch at the Los Angeles motor show.

The company has carved out an almost unique slice of the luxury car market between the top German luxury models and fellow British brand Rolls-Royce.

The most expensive Mercedes S-Class model in the new range is the S63 AMG at $385,000.

While Rolls-Royce prices start at $645,000 for the Ghost in Australia and top out above $1 million, most Bentley model prices are in the $400-$500k range, except for the $600k-plus Mulsanne.

So far this year, Rolls Royce has delivered 15 vehicles, compared with 19 last year when the Ghost arrived on the market.

In Australia, Bentley has five dealerships, in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.