Booming Bentley looks to expand

Bentley, the luxury car manufacturer, may have to expand capacity at its production plant due to demand.

The company is presently owned by Volkswagen and has seen sales boom in recent years.

"In four years our volume has grown from 1,000 to 10,000 cars," Stuart McCullough, member of the Bentley board for sales and marketing.

"The current volume is closer to where we want it to be, but we may have to change the way we produce cars.

"At Crewe we currently work a two-shift system, so as an example we could go to a three-shift system.

"But we won't make those changes until we are certain the volumes are safe."

However, overproduction could damage the prestigious brand.

"We're reluctant to push too many cars into the market place, and the worst thing we could do to our customers is cheapen the product they drive," continued Mr McCullough.

The news was announced at the Tokyo Motor Show, where Mr McCullough also confirmed Bentley had sold over 1,000 units in the Asia Pacific region.

China is one key area. Sales of 200 vehicles were predicted this year, but reached 400.

"It's a fact that we have a premium position in China and we can't keep up with demand. Because we have high-roofed, extended wheelbase cars we dominate the 'chairman of the board' market there," concluded Mr McCullough.