At the top of an automotive market paralyzed by the health crisis, luxury cars shine: Rolls-Royce, Bentley and even Bugatti had a record year in 2021, with SUVs at the top of the sales, these raised vehicles that look like a whole -ground but with services close to a sedan.
Rolls (BMW group) improved on its historical record of 2019 by selling 5,586 cars.
Wealthy customers flocked to the new "
Ghost
" coupe and the Cullinan SUV, sold from 300,000 euros (in France).
Bentley and Lamborghini (Volkswagen group) also presented their sales records this week with respectively 14,659 and 8,405 cars sold worldwide, in particular thanks to their Bentayga and Urus SUVs, sold around 200,000 euros. On the hyper-luxury side, Bugatti welcomed the "
best exercise ever in the history of the company
", with 150 cars ordered, for an entry ticket of around three million euros.
"
It's the same everywhere: after the crises, the rich are richer and the poor are poorer
", philosopher Adolfo De Stefani Cosentino, the president of the Italian Federation of dealers (Federauto). “
Luxury and premium have held up much better than the generalist segments
”. “
There is a lot of money ready to be spent
,” Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Muller-Otvos said in an interview with AFP in May 2021. “
I was impressed by the number of customers who told us that with the Covid, they had understood that they could die tomorrow and that now is the time to enjoy life
”.
In parallel with the health crisis, the global automotive industry is hit by a shortage of components, in particular electronic chips, which prevent the production of vehicles when order books are full.
The crisis has prevented the production of 9.5 to 11 million vehicles worldwide in 2021, according to the firm PwC.