By Gary S. Vasilash

Presently OEMs are in the process of cutting costs. Not only are they prone to the issues that face all of us when we go shopping for goods and services, but they are also investing big-rig quantities of cash on electrification and autonomy, two things that are not only incredibly costly, but which have yet to form an income stream, just an out-going gush.

One of the ways of cutting costs is to reduce what’s technically known as “build complexity” or more simply known as “reducing the number of options available.”

By offering, say, five packages (variations on seat materials, audio systems, shiny bits, etc.) rather than 10, this means that there has to be fewer items sourced and then stored, fewer things that have to be handled in the factory.

Which brings us to Bentley Motors.

It announced its 2023 financials this week.

It posted revenue of €2.938 billion and operating profits of €589 million.

Its return on sales was 20.1%.

The company delivered 13,560 vehicles in 2023.

Adrian Hallmark, chairman and CEO of the company, said, “We took another big step forward on our strategy to focus on customer value rather than volume.”

Which can probably be interpreted as: “Rather than trying to move a whole lot of mental, we’ll focus on providing customers with things they want and are consequently willing to pay for.”

Which brings us back to build complexity.

Bentley’s lineup consists of the Flying Spur, Continental (GT and Convertible), and Bentayga.

Yet the company, though its Mulliner division, offers 46-billion build configurations.

It found that about 75% of its customers opted for specialization, a 43% increase over the number who did in 2022.

Seems like complexity can be profitable.