The sale of new cars is taking a huge hit because of the chip shortage, but it is not doom and gloom for every brand. Several exclusive brands are doing better than ever, according to the sales figures.
Car manufacturers who have to rely on volume models with relatively little profit margin are experiencing very difficult times. It is difficult to achieve large production numbers due to the worldwide chip shortage and, moreover, relatively little is earned per car sold. That is why, for example, Mercedes-Benz already decided to give priority to the more expensive models with more margin, now that production is lagging behind. There are of course also brands that mainly operate in the expensive and exclusive corner of the car industry. Most of those brands are doing very well here in the Netherlands, according to the sales figures. Perhaps it is related to the fact that the Netherlands never been so many billionaires rich as now?
Ferrari
Ferrari Portofino M
The biggest outlier is Ferrari. That has never sold so many cars in the Netherlands as this year. Then we still have two months to go. The counter is already at 66 cars. In the whole of 2020, 59 were sold, in 2019 37. A clear upward trend. Three (relatively) new models are doing well. The 488 is the third best-selling Ferrari ever in our country, with 76 units. The Portofino follows in fourth place with 51 pieces. To date, 23 of the Roma have been sold. The California, which is of course no longer available, remains by far the most successful Ferrari ever in the Netherlands with 124 units.
Lamborghinic
Lamborghini Urus
Lamborghini is also doing good business, although that is something from the past four years. Before 2018, there were never more than 9 Lamborghinis sold here, in 2018 there were already 19 and in 2019 even 49. After that it decreased slightly, in 2020, which was disrupted by corona, the counter came to 35. This year there are up to 33 Lamborghinis sold in the Netherlands to date, so logically 2020 will be surpassed. The major driver of this success is of course the Urus. 87 of that SUV have now been sold in the Netherlands, almost twice as many as the next most successful model, the Huracán.
Porsche
Porsche Taycan
At Porsche, sales have been on an upward trend for almost twenty years. This is of course due to the addition of the Cayenne and later the Macan. 2015 was the absolute record year, with no fewer than 2,174 Porsches sold. A huge outlier, because before that sales had only once exceeded 1,000 units and after that it did not exceed 2,000 units. Last year Porsche was close: then it sold 1,844 cars in our country, the second most successful year ever. This year the counter is at 1,516, so it may be close again. The success of 2015 was due to the then brand new Macan. At the moment, the fully electric Taycan is making a nice contribution. More than 800 of these have been sold in the Netherlands so far.
Bentley
Bentley Bentayga
What Lamborghini can do with the Urus, Bentley does with the Bentayga. Since the massive SUV was added to the range, Bentley is clearly doing better. Yet the British brand has only been able to set new records in our country since 2019. For years, the number of Bentleys sold here fluctuated between 40 and 50 units per year, but suddenly it shot up to 78 units in 2019. Nota bene in 2020, things went a step further and Bentley came to 82 cars sold. 80 have already been sold this year, so 2021 is likely to be another record year for the brand in our country. Incidentally, it is by no means only Bentayga’s that increase the sales figures like this: 112 of the Bentayga have been sold to date, the majority of Bentley sales ‘just’ still consist of Continentals.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl