Bentley saw profits fall by almost two-thirds in the first nine months of the year, in sharp contrast to the continued success of its Volkswagen Group stablemate Lamborghini.
A combination of lower sales, higher US tariffs and expenses related to the cancellation of the Porsche-led electric large-car platform contributed to the drop, according to financial documents posted by Bentley’s managing brand, Audi.
Bentley profits plunged 62% to €115 million (£101.3m) in the nine months to the end of September, slashing the brand’s operating profit margin to 6.1%, the Audi figures show. Sales were marginally down by 2% at 7236 cars.
By contrast Lamborghini, also managed by Audi, fared much better with operating profits down 13% to €592 million (£521.8m), resulting in a healthy operating margin of 25%. The Italian brand sold 8140 cars over the nine-month period, down by 3.2%.
Only Ferrari bettered Lamborghini’s performance among the luxury automotive brands with an operating margin of 30% on profits of €1.6 billion (£1.4bn) for the nine months – although BMW doesn’t quote profit figures for Rolls-Royce.
Lamborghini’s performance has been the one bright spot in the Audi-led 'Brand Group Progressive' VW division in the year, after Audi itself posted disappointing margins of just 1.8%.
In fact Lamborghini delivered a whopping 38% of the Brand Group Progressive’s operating profit on less than 1% of the sales. The Audi brand accounted for 52% of the division’s profits, while Bentley contributed just 7% with motorbike brand Ducati on 3%.
Lamborghini’s success is a potential embarrassment for Bentley given it faced many of the same problems, including higher US tariffs (at 15% compared with 10% for Bentley), a weak US dollar and undisclosed expenses related to the cancellation of the Porsche EV platform. Autocar has approached Bentley for comment on the differences.
Bentley’s poor year comes after a string of excellent annual results for the Crewe-based luxury brand and raises the spectre of a return to the boom-and-bust cycle the company suffered prior to the launch and lengthy ramp-up of the current generation of Continental GT from 2018.
When led by current Aston Martin CEO Adrian Hallmark, Bentley regularly posted double-digit operating margins, starting in 2021 and hitting a record 21% in 2022.
Although Bentley hasn’t yet commented on the difference in fortunes between it and Lamborghini, the figures reveal important variations in their performance this year.
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