Bentley Motors bought a report variety of its luxurious sedans and SUVs final 12 months as the remainder of the auto business struggled to stem losses from the coronavirus pandemic, the 101-year-old carmaker stated Tuesday.

The Volkswagen-owned firm bought 11,206 autos in 2020 — regardless of a seven-week closure of its manufacturing unit in England in the course of the top of the Covid-19 pandemic final spring. The corporate bought 11,006 automobiles in 2019.

Bentley sells a number of the costliest and uncommon automobiles on the earth. Its entry-level SUV, the Bentayga, begins at round $180,000, whereas its most unique mannequin, the Mulliner Bacalar, sells for round $2 million.

Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark stated he’s “cautiously optimistic” relating to enterprise in 2021 “as a lot stays unsure,” based on a press launch. He stated final 12 months’s gross sales report is a “sturdy measure” of the corporate’s potential because it pivots to turn into a fully electric car company by 2030.

Gross sales within the Americas rose by 4.2% and remained Bentley’s prime market in 2020, however its development got here from a whopping 48.5% gross sales leap in China. The 2 markets accounted for 53% of Bentley’s gross sales in 2020, based on the corporate. That offset gross sales declines in the UK, Europe and the Center East in 2020.