It took Bentley over 100 years to build as many cars as Toyota does in a week
Bentley has just built its 200,000th car, bringing the luxury British brand’s grand total up to Toyota’s weekly output. Over the course of a century Bentley has turned out an average of 38 cars every week, but some 75 percent of them were actually built within the last 18 years. From 1919–2002, just 44,418 cars were hand made, first in Cricklewood, London, and then at Bentley’s Crewe factory in the North West of England.
The company now produces 85 cars a day, which is the same number as it built in a month 20 years ago, and this huge growth can mainly be attributed to the Continental GT. Launched in 2003, the coupe and convertible accounts for 80,000 units, while the Flying Spur sedan comes in second at 40,000.
The Bentayga SUV is catching up fast and became Bentley’s swiftest-seller, achieving 25,000 sales in record time. Unsurprisingly, Bentley no. 200,000 is a Bentayga Hybrid (pictured at the top with the oldest surviving Bentley) that is destined for China, one of Bentley’s biggest markets.
Despite the rapid acceleration in sales, Bentleys are still built to last. According to the company’s data, 84 percent of its cars sold in the U.K. are still on the roads. As the company changes gears again and becomes a pure EV manufacturer by 2030, will the same be true?
