Bentley Buyers Are Splashing Out €39,000 on Options for Each Car
The ultra-luxury British carmaker is contending with a high-class problem: unprecedented demand for personalization.
A winged B hood ornament on a Bentley Flying Spur limousine at Volkswagen’s annual meeting last year in Berlin.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergA few years ago, Bentley brass were doing what auto executives the world over have for years: eyeing Ferrari NV’s business model with envy.
The ultra-luxury British brand within the Volkswagen Group coveted the amount of value its high-performance Italian counterpart was extracting out of every vehicle it was selling. Bentley’s bosses had a decision to make: Should they try to get on Ferrari’s level by way of savings from reducing the amount of complexity in its product line, or by leaning into customization like never before?