BENTLEY has appointed two new dealerships for Australia and last month completed a world-class showroom in New Zealand following significant sales increases that will also see a return to factory distribution in Sydney.

Bentley Motors’ new country manager for Australia and New Zealand, David Simpson, said the current five national dealers will be expanded with the opening of a Gold Coast showroom in the second half of this year and a stand-alone outlet – the second for Bentley in Australia – in Sydney.

Mr Simpson’s appointment – and that of Emma Ireland who is retail marketing manager for Australia and New Zealand – reflects the importance of the regional market and moves administration from Singapore.

He said this was triggered by sales of 219 Bentley vehicles in Australia in 2017, up 15.3 per cent on 2016, and a 36.4 per cent increases in New Zealand sales to 45 units.

The new Sydney showroom in O’Riordan Street, Alexandria, to be completed this year is the second in NSW for Inchcape’s Trivett Bespoke.

It will also be the second stand-alone showroom in the region after Lance Dixon’s Bentley Melbourne. Currently, Trivett shares the Bentley showroom in Alexandria – down the road from the new building – with Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin and McLaren.

In Queensland, existing Bentley agency Autosports Group Ltd will add a second showroom on the Gold Coast for the brand.

This will be a bigger space for Bentley with new facilities and will allow it to have a dedicated area, while sharing the building with another marque.

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There have been showroom upgrades for other Bentley outlets around Australia, including AHG’s Chellingworth Motors in the Perth western suburb of Nedlands; and the Solitaire Group’s Hawthorn showroom in Adelaide.

Mr Simpson said the most impressive new showroom for the brand was the Giltrap Group’s Auckland property.

“This is one of our oldest dealers,” Mr Simpson said.

“Giltrap has a long association with Bentley. It even has investments in some Bentley dealers in the UK.”

He said Giltrap opened its state-of-the-art showroom last month which it shares with Lamborghini and Aston Martin, although Bentley has a premium corner location.

“As part of its investment in the brand, Giltrap went to the UK and brought back Derek Bennett who managed Jack Barclay Bentley on the Mayfair. Jack Barclay is the world’s oldest Bentley dealer and was the home of the Bentley Boys in the 1920s. One of its key members, Woolf Barnato, lived opposite the dealership.

“So it’s a very iconic place for Bentley and customers. Getting Derek back home (he is a New Zealander) was very important to Giltrap and will really reinforce the Bentley experience for customers in Auckland in what I consider to be one of the best showrooms in the world.”

New model launches linked to major events

Mr Simpson said the Australia and New Zealand region – which now sells about the same number of Bentleys as the South-East Asian region south of Taiwan – was a very strong luxury two-door market, driven by the exotic brands Lamborghini, Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin.

“We have a new Continental GT coming this year which is a big step forward for us in every element of the car,” he said.

“We see this making a big impact on sales and will probably attract a new customer base from performance-focused two-doors to a more useful brand. In the SUV segment with Bentayga we have strong demand while delivering the ownership experience that customers want.”

Mr Simpson said this customer experience includes bringing the Bentley factory race team to the Bathurst 12 Hour this weekend.

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“This has been very popular in the past with customers asking for invitations,” he said.

“This year it is getting bigger so we will host customers at Bathurst and invite them to the Team Bentley planning table for the race.

“We get three times the amount of coverage from the Bathurst 12 Hour as we do from Spa or Nurburgring. So it’s a very important event for us, even though we have not won and have been painfully close to the podium in previous years.”

He said that Bentley also had a GP suite at the Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne for the past two years.

“Often this has been timed around the launch of a new model for us. This year it will serve as the platform for the launch of the new Continental GT so it will offer customers our Bentley experience along with the first look at our new car.”

By Neil Dowling