Tag Archives: Bentley Motors

Hallmark’s Quick Move

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By Gary S. Vasilash

On March 22 Bentley Motors announced that Adrian Hallmark, who had been chairman and CEO of the company since 2018, was leaving the company.

Adrian Hallmark: From one lux Brit brand to aonther. (Image: Bentley)

Evidently he left under good conditions as Gernot Döllner, chairman of the executive board of Audi and responsible for the Progressive Brand Group, which includes Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati, within the Volkswagen Group, said, “I would like to thank Adrian Hallmark for his significant commitment over the last years and wish him well in his personal and professional future.”

That professional future was defined quickly.

On March 22 Aston Martin announced that Adrian Hallmark would be joining the company as executive director and CEO, starting no later than October 1.

Generally there is a bit of a gap between the announcement of one’s departure and one’s arrival.

But that’s certainly not the case with Hallmark. Odds are he will have his stuff moved from Crewe to Gaydon in far fewer than some seven months.

Hallmark said about his departure: “Bentley has had a great influence on me. To redefine luxury mobility for the future with such a strong brand is a task that I took on with full commitment and great pleasure. The time has now come for me to turn to new challenges. I would like to express warm thanks to the entire Bentley team for all that we have achieved together in the last few years.”

And of his arrival: “The transformation of Aston Martin is one of the most exciting projects within the ultra-luxury automotive industry. I am looking forward to continuing the Company’s great momentum and utilizing my experience and passion to further unleash this iconic brand’s potential and take it to even greater success.”

Sounds like his previous gig was a bit easier than his new one will be.

When someone describes something as “most exciting” that generally means “this is going to be really hard.”

Bentley and Build Complexity

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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.