Luxury car manufacturer Bentley will not be committing to a sports car any time soon according to the company’s CEO, Adrian Hallmark.
Speaking in an interview with Autocar magazine, Hallmark indicated that the time is not right for Bentley to build a two-seater sports car, purely because the demand is not out there and that the demographic of drivers who previously bought sports cars, are now buying SUVs.
Hallmark said: “The sports car sector, like our own, is highly volatile in a recession. It can drop 50 or 60 percent. Only this time, the sports car sector forgot to recover. And if you look at their history, and the average age of their buyers, you’ll see the age goes up by one every year. It means the cars are being bought by the same old enthusiasts.”
Bentley had teased the prospect of a sports car at the 2015 Geneva auto show with the EXP 10 Speed 6 concept getting plenty of fans drooling at the prospect.
If an SUV is the direction that Bentley take then there is no clear indication of what we are likely to see next. Reports earlier in the summer suggested that the British manufacturer could be looking at a coupe-SUV hybrid, similar to a Porsche Cayenne. Bentley may also consider an electric car in their line-up according to Hallmark.
Hallmark told Autocar that he has no fears that Bentley’s customers would be able to charge their cars if the company does go electric.
He said: “It’s one of my least concerns. Porsche, VW, BMW and Mercedes are partners in a network for transient travel across Europe called Ionity, which in 18 months will have six chargers each on sites no more than 120km [75 miles] apart, able to charge a Porsche Mission E in 20-30min.
“Thirty-seven per cent of our owners have considered a BEV [battery electric vehicle]. They’re open to them and understand cities will want them. But they want more, not just an ecological car but great suspension, performance, connectivity, craftsmanship. They want to gain, not lose anything.”