Aston Martin sales decelerate in UK

Financial News - Sales of Aston Martins – the preferred cars of investment bankers and hedge fund managers – continued to fall in the UK last year, despite a bounceback in sales of Bentleys and Porsches.

The favourite marque of fictional spy James Bond suffered a 9% fall in sales to 1,080 in the UK last year, its fourth consecutive annual fall and down by more than half from its 2006 peak of 2,292 cars.

A spokesman said sales were up globally in 2010, and that the carmaker was "confident of more gradual growth" this year as new products were introduced and its dealership network was expanded. The firm has also recently launched two sharply contrasting new models to help boost sales: the £30,000 Cygnet "eco-car", and the £1.2m One-77 supercar.

But the luxury marque is being left in the dust by Bentley and Porsche, whose UK sales were up by almost one-third last year, according to figures from their UK Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Bentley registered a 31% sales rise to 993, and Porche sold 29% more cars at 6,784, although this was 29% below the 2006 peak of 9,522 cars.

A spokesman from Bentley said sales were driven by existing models, as deliveries on the new £200,000 Mulsanne did not begin until late last year, while first deliveries of the £135,000 Continental GT will get under way around March.

He said he was cautiously optimistic about the rebound: "2009 was a bad year for the high luxury sector, so the increase in sales last year was due to a gradual increase in confidence. It's still a challenging market. Everyone's waiting to see what happens."

Bentley sold 5,117 cars worldwide in 2010. The US remained the largest market but sales in China were up 87%, and Bentley expects Chinese sales to eclipse the US within three years.

But, while the bonus season has traditionally meant a surge in sales of luxury cars, changes in the structure of payouts this year and falling profits at some banks in the first nine months of 2010 could result in less extravagance.

In December the Financial Services Authority published new rules on remuneration, including a minimum cap of 20% on the cash part of bonuses for senior bankers and traders, with the rest paid out in deferred shares.

Eight headhunters polled by Financial News predicted that average bonuses would at best be flat, and at worst down 40% compared to last year.