The cars of the rich did not experience the crisis in 2021

(Paris) At the top of an automotive market paralyzed by the health crisis, luxury cars shine: Rolls-Royce, Bentley and even Bugatti had a record year in 2021, with SUVs at the top of the sales list, these raised vehicles that look like to an all-terrain vehicle, but with services close to a saloon.

Rolls (BMW group) improved on its historical record of 2019 by selling 5586 cars. Affluent customers flocked to the new “Ghost” coupe and the Cullinan SUV, the latter being priced from 408,000 Canadian dollars.

Bentley and Lamborghini (Volkswagen group) also presented their sales records this week with respectively 14,659 and 8,405 cars sold worldwide, thanks in particular to their SUVs Bentayga, sold from 227,000 Canadian dollars, and Urus, whose price basis exceeds 252,000 Canadian dollars.

On the hyperluxury side, Bugatti welcomed the “best year ever in the company’s history”, with 150 cars ordered, for an entry ticket of around three million euros (4.2 million Canadian dollars).

“Luxury and premium have held up much better than the generalist segments,” he says.

The boss of Rolls-Royce, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, had come to him: “There is a lot of money ready to be spent,” he told AFP in May 2021.

“I have been impressed by the number of clients who have told us that with COVID-19, they understood that they could die tomorrow and that now is the time to enjoy life”.

“New breath and real challenge”

In parallel with the health crisis, the global automotive industry is hit by a shortage of components, in particular electronic chips, which prevent the production of vehicles when order books are full. The crisis has prevented the production of 9.5 to 11 million vehicles worldwide in 2021, according to the firm PwC.

On the premium side, BMW recorded a record year with 2.2 million cars sold, particularly in China and the United States. Its arch-nemesis Mercedes-Benz saw global sales drop 5% due to chip shortages, but sales of its AMG sports division and luxury brand Maybach soared.

“Only the most requested vehicles are produced,” said José Baghdad, partner and head of the automotive sector at PwC France and Maghreb. “Premium manufacturers are also willing to buy the components a little more expensive”.

And the pleasures of luxury are not only experienced on four wheels: Italian Ducati motorcycles (from 15,000 euros for the most sporty ones) also improved their sales record in 2021, with nearly 60,000 copies sold across the country. world.

“There is a macroeconomic factor: part of the population has become very wealthy in recent years and has the capacity to buy luxury and very large luxury vehicles”, underlines the analyst. In the ultra-luxury micromarket, “these cars have also shown in recent years that they are not losing value and even gaining value”.

SUVs are enjoying a global fashion effect, but they are also the most accessible vehicles of these brands. Ferrari, which is due to publish its results in early February, is also due to present its first SUV this year, the “Purosangue”.

Another marker of the automobile of the 2020s, electrification also ends up affecting luxury, like “a new breath, but a real challenge”, underlines Mr. Baghdad at PwC. “One of the interests of these brands was motorization, with a particular power and sound. By switching to electric, it will be more difficult to tell them apart”.

At Porsche (which also recorded a record year by exceeding 300,000 vehicles sold, particularly in China and America), the legendary sporty 911 was overtaken by the Taycan electric sedan, which saw its sales double in one year.