By Nick Carey

LONDON (Reuters) – Luxurious British carmaker Bentley on Thursday mentioned its first-quarter working revenue jumped 162% versus the identical interval final yr, as hovering automobile costs offset the lack of some automobiles at sea and pandemic-related supply issues in China.

The Volkswagen (ETR:) unit mentioned excessive buyer curiosity in new fashions resulted in a document order e-book of just below 10,000 autos for the 102-year-old carmaker.

Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark mentioned that about 200 automobiles, round 75 of them extremely custom-made orders for particular prospects, sure for the U.S. market went down on a ship that caught fireplace off the Azores in February. Hallmark mentioned these gross sales have been largely recovered in April.

Chinese language gross sales have been hit by pandemic shutdowns, which additionally affected the power to move automobiles inland by truck.

“The crises that we have had with COVID, semiconductors and now the tragedy in Ukraine haven’t dented prospects’ willingness to put money into excessive luxurious items and definitely not in Bentleys,” Hallmark instructed Reuters. “We’re actually doing properly.”

The gross sales dip follows a document yr for Bentley in 2021, as pandemic journey restrictions left rich shoppers with extra disposable earnings, lifting premium and luxurious automobile gross sales in key world markets like China and the USA.

Hallmark mentioned absent any additional provide chain points, the corporate may produce round 15,000 automobiles this yr, in contrast with the 14,659 it bought final yr.

First-quarter automobile gross sales fell 5% to three,203 items from 3,358 a yr earlier, with gross sales down 9% within the Americas and 29% in China.

However the common income per automobile rose 15% to 212,000 euros ($223,257) from 184,000 euros a yr earlier, as prospects opted for extra customized choices. Hallmark mentioned prospects have embraced the power to personalize seat leathers, stitching, seating configurations and a myriad of different choices.

“Sellers are doing restricted editions, particular packages for particular person prospects, and it is simply getting an increasing number of common,” he mentioned.

Income at Bentley was up 41% at 813 million euros versus 578 million a yr earlier, and the carmaker’s working revenue rose to 170 million euros from 65 million euros.

Earnings have been additionally partly lifted by a restructuring program that started in 2018.

($1 = 0.9496 euros)