Bentley brand manager: Luxury car market is still holding on

Luxury cars importers are relying on servicing activities in order to keep their profit margins, considering that a technical inspection of a Bentley, for instance, costs 500 euros, double as much as for a city car. The need to replace an older model with the brand's "latest luxury product" is keeping alive the market of cars costing over 150,000 euros.

"Luxury clients have not changed, but they have become much more demanding. They are waiting much longer before deciding to make a purchase. The market of luxury cars is still holding on, but it has shrunk compared with the previous two years. However, this market is still holding on," said Adrian Pascu, manager of the Bentley, Porsche, and Lamborghini brands within Porsche Romania, the largest automotive importer on the Romanian market, which posted almost one billion-euro turnover in 2008.

The luxury car segment is recording declines even above 50%, the "normal" average for the auto market this year, but importers are "rescued" by servicing activities.

"Service is very important right now. Out of the 200 Bentley models in Romania, we have around 175 cars registered in our database. By active clients we mean those who brought their car into our servicing centre more than once," explained Adrian Pascu.

The focus on the servicing segment is also specific to the Ferrari brand, with importer Forza Rossa estimating that around one million of the 8 million-euro turnover comes from the servicing business.

According to the Bentley manager, luxury brand sales are also aided by the launch of new models.

"Those who do buy, purchase newly-launched models, which usually replace a car in their garage," said Pascu, adding that Porsche and Bentley clients usually have at least another car of the same brand.

Porsche started officially importing the Bentley brand in the third quarter of last year, and had sold two cars by the end of 2008. The most expensive car delivered by the importer this year is a Bentley Flying Spur Speed, costing around 210,000 euros, excluding VAT.