Bentley fortunes droop in contrast to stablemate Lamborghini

Bentley saw profits fall by almost two-thirds in the first nine months of the year, in sharp contrast to the continued success of its Volkswagen Group stablemate Lamborghini. A combination of lower sales, higher US tariffs and expenses related to the cancellation of the Porsche-led electric large-car platform contributed to the drop, according to financial documents posted by Bentley’s managing brand, Audi. Bentley profits plunged 62% to €115 million (£101.3m) in the nine months to the end of September, slashing the brand’s operating profit margin to 6.1%, the Audi figures show. Sales were marginally down by 2% at 7236 cars. By contrast Lamborghini, also managed by Audi, fared much better with operating profits down 13% to €592 million (£521.8m), resulting in a healthy operating margin of 25%. The Italian brand sold 8140 cars over the nine-month period, down by 3.2%. Only Ferrari bettered Lamborghini’s performance among the luxury automotive brands with an operating margin of 30% on profits of €1.6 billion (£1.4bn) for the nine months – although BMW doesn’t quote profit figures for Rolls-Royce. Lamborghini’s performance has been the one bright spot in the Audi-led 'Brand Group Progressive' VW division in the year, after Audi itself posted disappointing margins of just 1.8%. In fact Lamborghini delivered a whopping 38% of the Brand Group Progressive’s operating profit on less than 1% of the sales. The Audi brand accounted for 52% of the division’s profits, while Bentley contributed just 7% with motorbike brand Ducati on 3%. Lamborghini’s success is a potential embarrassment for Bentley given it faced many of the same problems, including higher US tariffs (at 15% compared with 10% for Bentley), a weak US dollar and undisclosed expenses related to the cancellation of the Porsche EV platform. Autocar has approached Bentley for comment on the differences. Bentley’s poor year comes after a string of excellent annual results for the Crewe-based luxury brand and raises the spectre of a return to the boom-and-bust cycle the company suffered prior to the launch and lengthy ramp-up of the current generation of Continental GT from 2018. Helped partly by the pent-up demand post-Covid, Bentley posted double-digit operating margins every year from 2021, hitting a record 21% in 2022. Although Bentley hasn’t yet commented on the difference in fortunes between it and Lamborghini, the figures reveal important variations in their performance this year. Both are highly dependent on their technically related SUVs – the Bentley Bentagya and Lamborghini Urus – but Lamborghini has soared ahead with Urus sales up 15% to 5679 for the period, while those of the Bentayga dropped 20% to 2472, making the facelifted Continental GT now the company’s best-seller. The Bentayga was first revealed in 2016, a year before the Urus, with a heavy update in 2020. Another facelift is expected soon. Bentley has also been hit harder by the slump in luxury and premium demand in China, where it had a bigger share than Lamborghini. Bentley’s China share of its total sales for the nine months fell to 19%, compared with 24% for the same period the year before. The prolonged pause for China’s big spenders is hurting Bentley in way that it doesn’t for sports car brands, which never appealed much to the Chinese rich. China accounted for only 4% of Lamborghini’s sales in the first nine months (down from 5%). Bentley also suffered more from the pause in shipments to the US in the second quarter as the tariffs agreements between the US and the UK were being hammered out. Profits fell to just €11 million in those three months, giving a margin of 2.1%, before rising to 4.8% in third quarter. Lamborghini fared better in both the second and third quarters, maintaining its 20-plus per cent profit margin. Audi’s financial statement blamed “difficult market conditions, life-cycle effects, and model changeovers” for the 7.7% drop in production for Bentley cars, related to the rollout of the newly revamped Continental GT and Flying Spur range. However, Lamborghini’s production was down a substantial 24% in the period, as the production of the Huracán supercar switched over to its Temerario replacement. Both brands have now fully embraced the plug-in hybrid, with the electrified drivetrain accounting for 68% of Bentley’s production in the nine months and 90% of Lamborghini’s. As Bentley lays out the next steps for its first electric car, the worry over whether customers will swap a V8 for battery cells will be tempered by the fact that when it arrives on the market in 2027, it will give the brand a new nameplate to juice sales amid a lull in new combustion-engine launches.

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Bentley fortunes droop in contrast to stablemate Lamborghini

British brand's profits dropped by almost two-thirds in the first nine months of 2025

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