(March 17): Bentley Motors Ltd is planning to cut 275 jobs as the British luxury-car maker grapples with falling sales in China, tepid electric-vehicle demand and US tariffs.
The reductions — roughly 6% of its workforce — will affect office roles rather than manufacturing, the Volkswagen AG-owned company said Tuesday. The number could fall as vacancies are closed and people choosing to leave aren’t replaced, it said.
The measure is aimed at ensuring the business remains competitive, with the industry “in every aspect under pressure,” chief executive officer Frank-Steffen Walliser said on a call with reporters. “These are the times when you look at your cost structure and your efficiency.”
Bentley’s parent VW has started cutting expenses across its stable of brands. Europe’s biggest automaker has been struggling with uneven EV demand, a sales slump in China and the added burden of US tariffs. Those levies cost Bentley roughly €42 million (US$48 million or $61.3 million) last year, executives said.
The British brand is part of an Audi-led group that also includes Lamborghini and motorcycle maker Ducati. The division sees rising profits this year on new models and an efficiency drive, it said earlier Tuesday.
Like other carmakers, Bentley has walked back its electric ambitions amid tepid demand from the super-rich, especially in China, one of its biggest markets. The company, based in Crewe, northern England, previously targeted creating only fully electric cars from the end of the decade, but said in November it may keep churning out new models with a combustion engine after 2035.
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Bentley said it remains committed to launching its first electric car, a sport utility vehicle, but said that any future EVs won’t arrive before 2030.
The Middle East conflict threatens to disrupt the industry further. The company isn’t currently sending cars into the region but isn’t cutting production for now. Bentley shipped 5% fewer cars last year but a higher average selling price meant revenue slipped just 1% to €2.62 billion.
The brand isn’t the only upmarket British automaker cutting jobs. Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc is shedding as much as a fifth of its roughly 3,000 workforce after a turnaround effort under billionaire Lawrence Stroll failed to gain traction.
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