Volkswagen's Bentley spends $16.5 million in bid to win at Le Mans

LONDON February 5, 2003; Matthew Fletcher writing for Bloomberg reported that Volkswagen AG's Bentley Motors luxury car unit expects to spend more than 10 million pounds ($16.5 million) this year as it puts the finishing touches on a new sports car it wants to win the Le Mans 24-hour race in June.

The division of Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, is spending about 30 million pounds under a three-year plan that it hopes will lead to victory this June, said Adrian Hallmark, Bentley's sales director. The figure is about half of the division's total spending on marketing in the period.

Volkswagen is keeping Bentley after handing over the Rolls-Royce luxury-car business to Bayerische Motoren Werke AG Jan. 1 in a 1998 agreement that split the U.K. brands. Volkswagen will continue making Bentleys at a factory in Crewe, England. BMW has shifted Rolls-Royce production to Chichester, England.

Taking part in the Le Mans, France, competition, one of the world's oldest auto races and the only one running for 24 hours mainly on public streets, "is the best way to differentiate ourselves from other luxury carmakers," said Hallmark in an interview. "An advertising campaign could never achieve that."

Bentley is planning to quadruple annual sales to as many as 8,000 cars by 2007 by increasing the proportion of lower-priced, sportier vehicles on offer including the Continental GT Coupe, a new model.

Sponsors

Michelin & Cie., Europe's biggest tiremaker, will supply tires for the Bentley Speed 8 race car for both Le Mans and a 12-hour race in Sebring, Florida, in March, Bentley executives said at a press conference presenting the model today.

Breitling SA, a luxury watchmaker, will also sponsor Bentley's car at the two races for the first time this year, said Hallmark, declining to give financial details. A range of Bentley-branded Breitling wristwatches will be unveiled in April, he said.

The Continental GT Coupe will go on sale in the U.K. in the last three months of this year, with a price tag of about 120,000 pounds, and be sold in the U.S. starting in the first quarter of 2004, Hallmark said.

Bentley won the Le Mans race five times in the 1920s, the brand's racing heyday. The carmaker placed fourth last year and third in 2001, its first Le Mans race since 1930.

"This year, we're going back for a third try," said Sarah Perris, a spokeswoman. "Our goal is simply to win."

The British carmaker has no plans for a television or print advertising campaign to boost Bentley sales, Hallmark said. As well as motor sports, the company promotes its cars through special events and direct marketing, he said.