Rolls, Bentley, Lamborghini all post records
Jaguar Land Rover has nearly six months of orders
While new vehicle sales were down almost across the market, times were not so tough for luxury brands. Rolls Royce, Bentley, and Lamborghini all saw record sales years, moving more metal than ever before. Jaguar Land Rover could have posted similar but is being held back by a massive backlog of orders on the books.
The crew at Crewe moved 15,174 motors last year, the first time Bentley sold more than 15,000 units in a year. To little surprise, the best-seller was the Bentayga SUV, with Bentley reporting plenty of orders for the hybrid and extended wheelbase model.
Bentley’s SUV made up 42 percent of the brand’s sales, with the Flying Spur taking 28 percent. A third of those Flying Spurs are the Hybrid. The Continental made up the remaining 30 percent of the brand’s sales.
Rolls Royce delivered 6,021 vehicles, the first time it has ever topped 6,000 cars. Another strong point for the brand’s balance sheet, Rolls says that the value of Bespoke commissions, those extra-exclusive and extra-expensive options, has also hit a record. Rolls says it has orders booked well into this year, and that pre-sales for the Spectre electric have exceeded expectations.
Thanks to the Urus, Lamborghini nearly topped 10,000 cars for the first time. It settled just shy at 9,233, its best year by 10 percent. In Canada, the brand moved more than 350 units, meaning it outsold the Fiat brand here by seven-fold.
Lamborghini’s first hybrids will go on sale this year, and the company is making its largest-ever investment to transition to those and then EVs.
Jaguar Land Rover moved a total of 330,781 vehicles for the year, which is actually down sharply from 420,856 the year before. But that doesn’t tell the whole story, because the brand has orders for 215,000 vehicles waiting to be filled. That’s more than half a year’s production, and the number is up 10,000 from the end of the last quarter. JLR has been particularly pinched by the chip shortage and could see record sales (or at least beat last year’s) once it can meet the demand for the new Range Rover, RR Sport, and Defender.
