Bentley Says It Won’t Build Any Sports Cars As The Segment Is Shrinking

Ten months after being appointed as Bentley’s new chief executive and chairman, Adrian Hallmark has revealed that the British marque won’t build any sports cars.

When Wolfgang Durheimer was at the helm of Bentley, it was reported that the company was considering a sports cars slightly smaller in size than the Continental GT and inspired by the EXP 12 Speed 6e Concept from 2017.

Speaking to Autocar , Hallmark ruled out the possibility of such a vehicle ever seeing the light of day: “I won’t talk about our decisions on future models but I’ll tell you what we won’t be building, and that’s sports cars.

“The sports car sector – like our own – is highly volatile in a recession. It can drop 50% or 60%. Only this time, the sports car sector forgot to recover. And if you look at their history, and the average age of their buyers, you’ll see the age goes up by one every year.

“In China… there are plenty of 30 to 40-year- old millionaires, but they tend not to play tennis, football or sing. And they drive SUVs or limousines, so the sports car sector has not benefited from the Chinese expansion,” Hallmark said.

More hybrids and electric vehicles are coming

While Bentley doesn’t plan on building sports cars, it does have some exciting things up its sleeve. The car manufacturer sees a bright future for hybrid powertrains, despite previously thinking that they didn’t hold much promise.

According to Hallmark, Porsche has “cracked the code” with hybrids, positioning models like the Panamera Hybrids as the best available on the market. Bentley needs to do the same, he says.

Additionally, Hallmark revealed that Bentley owners would welcome electric vehicles, as long as there are no downsides.

“Thirty-seven per cent of our owners have considered a BEV [battery electric vehicle]. They’re open to them and understand cities will want them. But they want more, not just an ecological car but great suspension, performance, connectivity, craftsmanship. They want to gain, not lose anything.”