Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce released their 2022 global sales figures this week and they all have one thing in common: record growth.
Deep-pocketed buyers went on an unprecedented spending spree to achieve record-breaking sales for luxury and sports marques, which were able to meet increased demand despite disruptions to global supply chain and parts availability for production.
Rolls-Royce on Monday reported record sales in 2022 despite an average price tag of about $534,000 (about R9.1m) for its luxury cars and a drop in Chinese demand, with orders stretching into 2023.
The 119 year old British carmaker, which is owned by Germany’s BMW, said it sold 6,021 cars in 2022, up from 5,586 in 2021, which was also a record year.
Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös said pre-orders for its fully electric Spectre, due to go on sale at the end of 2023, had exceeded all expectations.
He said the growth forecast for 2023 came despite Rolls-Royce halting sales in Russia, which typically accounted for 250 to 300 units per year, in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Bentley Motors sold a record 15,174 cars in 2022, a 4% increase over the previous record year (14,659) in 2021 and the first time Bentley has reached over 15,000 cars.
This significant achievement was driven by new model introductions and increasing demand for Mulliner personalisation and Bentley’s new hybridised models, introduced under Bentley’s Beyond100 strategic path to full electrification by 2030.
The demand for SUVs ensured Bentayga remained Bentley’s number one model, selling more in its sixth year of sales than ever before, accounting for 42% of the luxury British marque's sales.
The Continental GT and GT Convertible continued to be popular and accounted for 30% of sales. The new, performance-orientated Continental GT Speed, the most dynamic road car Bentley has yet built, took 31% of the model mix.
The Flying Spur luxury four-door grand tourer accounted for 28% of the sales, thanks in part to the launch of the new Hybrid model.
Automobili Lamborghini delivered 9,233 cars worldwide in 2022, an increase of 10% over the previous year. The Urus SUV was the Italian brand’s most successful model with 5,367 units delivered (up 7% over 2021), boosted by the launch of two brand new models: the Urus Performante and Urus S.
The Huracán sold 3,113 units (up 20% on 2021) while the Aventador, which was discontinued in September, found 753 new owners last year.
Frensh luxury marque Bugatti also had a record-breaking year, with 80 new Bugatti hyper sports cars finding homes around the world.
Among the cars hand-built at Bugatti last year was the 400th Chiron model — with only 100 examples left to complete the full Chiron production run, the final nine Chiron Super Sport 300, all ten Centodieci, and the last Chiron and Chiron Sports. The world premiere of the W16 Mistral took place in August, hailed as the ultimate roadster, with the limited production run of 99 sold out before the 420km/h car was officially revealed.
Ferrari is yet to announce its total 2022 performance but at the end of the third quarter it had sold 9,894 cars, a 21% increase over the year before.
Porsche delivered 309,884 cars over the past 12 months, 3% more than in 2021, despite its Taycan electric car being heavily affected by supply chain bottlenecks and limited component availability.
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