Demand from emerging markets like India may force British super premium luxury carmaker Bentley Motors to expand its capacity. The company now has a capacity of 10,000 cars a year at its facility in Crewe. However, if the over 50% growth in demand from emerging markets continues, it may have to add a floor to the existing facility or set up a new plant, a senior Bentley official has said.
Ian Hession, regional sales manager, Bentley Middle East & India, told FE, ?Bentley has never faced such a problem in its history?where demand outstrips supply. On one hand we want to penetrate growing markets, but on the other we want to maintain exclusivity. The growth in markets like China, India, South Africa and Russia is phenomenal.?
The US and the UK currently account for seven out of every ten Bentleys sold and emerging markets account for about one in ten. Hession, however, believes that the share of these markets will go up to 20% over the next three to four years. ?Emerging markets will grow and developed markets may either stagnate or decline,? he said.
?We would struggle to expand at our current factory because it is in the town centre and there is no space around. We would either have to build upwards, maybe another floor, or build another plant somewhere else. But nothing is decided as yet,? added Hession.
Since its entry into India in 2003, the company has sold 50 cars, 20 of them in the last one year alone.