“This year we don’t expect to deliver more than three cars (the same number as last year – editor’s note), but we estimate over the next few years Bentley’s sales will stabilize somewhere around ten cars a year,” Tapalaga told ZF.
In Romania there are currently 200 Bentley owners, who own cars estimated by ZF to be worth EUR30 million. The British brand is the best-selling luxury car in Romania. This compares with Ferrari’s 130 cars sold in this country.
Last year, control over the luxury brands of the Volkswagen group, Porsche and Bentley, was taken over by Porsche Inter Auto, the retail division of Porsche Romania, from Porsche Romania. The two brands are now the main responsibility of Alin Tapalaga, 42, who has been working for Porsche Romania since 1998, the year when the company was set up.
This year, Porsche Inter Auto’s plans for the two brands entail setting up a new showroom for the Bentley brand. This would be the third time a Bentley showroom is to be set up in Porsche Bucuresti Nord. Other plans include boosting sales of Porsche as the German brand is set to launch more affordable models than it has so far, such as the new Panamera sports saloon with a diesel engine, which will cost around EUR68,000, Cayenne diesel, and the future Cajun compact SUV, which designed on the same platform as Audi Q5.
In the first five months of this year sales of the Porsche brand on the Romanian market went up by nearly 90% against the similar period of last year, according to statistics of the Automotive Manufacturers and Importers Association to over 40 units. Almost three quarter of these units were Cayenne SUVs, while the rest where Panameras, Boxters and 911s.