Bentley customers are, sometimes, a loyal bunch. 82 per cent of those who bought, back in 2006, an original GTC still own the car.
Why the ‘sometimes’ proviso? Because that’s for the GTC range, Bentley Board member Stuart McCullough revealed. If you’re looking at the Flying Spur, of course, the loyalty rates are even higher. Customers hold onto their cars for years.
The coupe, however, is different. Such is the fast turnover trend in the market, Bentley Continental GT buyers, on average, keep their car for just 11 months. Less than a year!
That’s the luxury car market for you. In certain sectors, it really is less about the car, and more about what’s ‘new’.
Could part of Bentley’s current troubles run deeper than the credit crunch, then? Be down to the fact its Continental GT is getting on a bit nowadays?
Judging by all the activity at the Crewe HQ, I’d wager the maker realises this, and has been working on the solution for years now… ‘new product is always crucial, a spokesman told me.
‘We’re going to be moving the Bentley story on in due course…’
Watch, he implored, this space. OK…
