(Reuters) – Luxury carmaker Bentley unveiled plans on Tuesday to build a new electric model annually for five years from 2025 after its annual profit skyrocketed, as the British firm builds on parent Volkswagen’s push to broaden electric offerings.
Crewe, England-based Bentley posted a profit of 389 million euros ($427.1 million) for 2021, compared with a profit of 20 million euros in the previous year, after deliveries jumped 31% to 14,659 cars on strong demand for new hybrid models.
Carmakers globally are doubling down on efforts to shift to electric models as calls for more environment-friendly machines grow. Bentley parent Volkswagen – Europe’s biggest carmaker – is ramping up investments in power infrastructure to take on Tesla.
Bentley itself is targeting to be end-to-end carbon-neutral by 2030, having invested 3 billion euros at its Crewe factory over a period of 10 years to aid this transition.
“Increasing demand for our hybridised models, supported by (3 billion euros) of sustainable investment in our Crewe factory, will ensure we remain the benchmark manufacturer in sustainable luxury mobility,” said Jan-Henrik Lafrentz, member of the board for Finance and IT at Bentley.
($1 = 0.9108 euros)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
