CEO of Bentley says that tech is for proles and the future of luxury is more coachbuilding – Jalopnik

I personally love it when the leaders of luxury brands drop all pretensions to egalitarianism and lean in flagrant snobism. After all, luxury is about status and hierarchy, so the false obligations to spoil the Hi Polloi shows that CEOs understand their mission fundamentally, namely selling very expensive things to very rich people. Enter Bentley CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser, who views the number one trend in the automotive industry and rightly decides that his Contrarian position is a marketing point. According to him, technology in the car is for proles. What his customers really need is more tailor -made coachbuilding, such as He told NewsWeek In a recent interview.

Walliser clearly thought through his position. Even expensive technology is only technical according to him. Adjustment on the other hand … well, that’s just the ticket in the new gilded age. And before you get your Dander up and complains that Walliser no longer has contact, consider that Bentley ownership implies a kind of deliberate, flamboyant out-of-home. Even when it comes to technology, what does it matter? I have tested a number of Bentleys and the infotainment systems have never been to my mind. What I remember are things such as removable cases for sunglasses, tire valve caps that have little “BS”, and buttery padded leather seats. Details are important!

Bentley has been quite effective in driving on the Gulf of Luxury One-Upmanship. 75% of the vehicles from his factory in Crewe, England, were worked by Bentley’s Mulliner Aanpassing Division, which does everything, from customized paint and leather to personalized wood veneer and 3D-printed components. There are mulliner equipment levels for models such as the flying tracks and continental GT that carry five-digit premiums via the standard versions and extensive options, but Mulliner stretches can be added to everything in the line-up, and it all costs a good cent. Then there is the really special stuff: the limited coach Built Batur started at nearly $ 2 million, more than six times the price of the continental with which it shares a platform and powertrain. Mulliner has also built continuation models of things such as the 100-year-old Bentley-Blowerer.

Walliser also thinks of Mulliner in the same way as dentists think of giving lollipops to children on their way out of the research room: it’s good for repeated things! He even thinks that the Uber-Luxe Bentley owner will become addicted to the customized treatment and returns to the pleasure several times. It is clear that he pursues a customer for whom the ability is a stratospheric abstract concept. Consider just that you want people to fill their garages with very special Bentleys. Walliser has already done that.

Walliser literally follows the money. Bentley emphasizes the growth in its adaptation activities since earlier this year, when the company revealed that Mulliner strengthened profitability, even when Bentley came from 2024 with reduced top and bottom lines. In an interesting but understandable turn, Walliser said in March that Bentley would throw away updates from vehicle sales figures and instead concentrate on maximizing income per vehicle, According to departments. Before you get angry about that, you recognize that Bentley has never sold many cars. And if adjustment adds considerably to profit, volumes are not relevant. The goal is to squeeze more out of every buyer.

You don’t do that with software updates over the air. But the question of course is how long a brand like Bentley can continue to support this less is-as-like-as-it-it-Costs-A-Lot philosophy. After all, the brand is still part of the Volkswagen Group, a company that literally places the “folk” in cars and still has to think about non-luxury, macro trends in the industry. With Bentley this has usually taken the form of resolving powertrain challenges – I can remember when rescuing biofuels would become – and the brand does have an EV -Onderwijd. Walliser offers what elitist innovation about making your Bentley quietly an expression of how much better you do than everyone else. The way it goes, this can be a winning business plan.