Britain's luxury heavyweight car makers, Bentley and Rolls-Royce, are purring their way to global success.
Strong economies in Europe and the US, along with growing interest from China and India, have fuelled record sales for the first half of the year at Bentley, which announced yesterday that it has sold some 5,600 of its Continental and Arnage ranges so far. It is a far cry from the late 1990s, when the brand could barely muster 1,000 sales a year. Rolls-Royce sells in more modest numbers, though with a heftier price tag, but it is still expecting record sales.
UK luxury brands, either because buyers want a model in the car park or the marque on the corporate wall, are in demand, and seem to have been helped by the conspicuous consumption of footballers and celebrities.
Ford has just sold Aston Martin to a Middle Eastern consortium and is negotiating a possible sale of its Jaguar and Land Rover brands, which is also running up record sales.
Bentley, which has been owned by Germany's Volkswagen for approaching a decade, is working hard with its Continental range to recapture the British sporting glamour of the era of the Bentley Boys, when rich young men dominated motor racing in the 1920s.
For the more stately motorist, the company offers its Arnage range. In Bentley speak, the Continentals - the top-of-the-range GCT comes with a £130,500 price tag - are aimed at people with a net worth of around $5m (£2.5m). The Arnage buyer is more likely to spring from a group whose net worth would be around $20m. And how much would an Arnage cost, compared with the Continental? "More," says a Bentley spokesman, bluntly.
Yesterday's figures show that Bentley sales in the UK rose 29% to 1,212, the Americas accounted for 2,373 and continental Europe showed a 32% increase to 1,288.
Bentley is also encouraged by its performance in China and Russia. The Chinese market is not to be scorned. For Rolls-Royce the US is still the main market, despite the dollar, accounting for around 50% of sales. In second place is the UK but China has pushed Japan out of third spot.
But who is prepared to fork out up to £300,000 plus for a top-of-the-range Rolls-Royce Phantom drophead coupe? In California, according to the company, the Phantom carries a certain cachet among sports stars. US buyers are likely to be younger and to have made their own money, rather than inherited wealth, than they were in the 1990s. In Japan, Rolls-Royce ownership is more likely to be a sign of corporate success than sporting stardom.
But aren't marques such as Rolls-Royce and Bentley running against the grain of the times - ostentatious symbols of wealth as well as being some way from the green end of the emissions spectrum? Rolls-Royce points to its use of aluminium, which keeps down the weight of a vehicle, suggesting there are four-by-four vehicles that are smaller than the Phantom but guzzle more fuel.
A Bentley spokesman accepts the company's products are luxury cars, which represent a degree of affluence on the part of the buyer. But ostentatious? Certainly not. "We have always tried to be understated, not to flaunt wealth. Stylistically, there is a philosophy of understatement at Bentley."
As for environmental concerns the message is watch this space. "We are aware we have environmental responsibilities. We do plan to take action to improve environmental performance."
The renewed popularity of the Bentley has not met with universal approbation. In the wake of West Ham's 6-0 defeat at Reading on New Year's Day, the club's manager, Alan Curbishley, is reported to have put some of the blame for the failings of his beleaguered side on their fondness for the brand. "They want to be in the Premiership and drive the baby Bentley," he said after a result that left his side four points adrift of safety.
Still, West Ham did survive - just - though I doubt you will find the car maker from Crewe claiming much credit for what it would, no doubt, regard as an off-road performance.
Bentley bounce
Premiership footballers like a Bentley. Owners are thought to include Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Ledley King, and David Beckham is already cruising around Los Angeles in his favourite marque. At £130,500 the Bentley Continental GTC brings a top speed of 195mph and takes you from 0 to 60mph in 4.8 seconds, 0-100mph in 5.1 seconds. That might be useful for getting away from autograph hunters, or in the case of the Beckhams, the paparazzi. The car comes fitted with DVD satellite navigation - handy if you have lost your way to your new club's training ground. Team-mates may also be impressed with hand-crafted leather seats and wood veneer control panels. But in these green-minded times, fuel consumption of 10.8mpg in urban areas may be less to brag about.
