Bentley Motors has tapped Robert Engstler as its new regional director for Europe, succeeding Bart Gerris who will take on another position at Volkswagen. Engstler will report to Bentley's sales chief Kevin Rose. Rose said in a statement that Bentley considers Europe as a key region, as the carmaker has been seeing consistent growth for years.
He added that the carmaker still see a lot of potential in Europe, and has plans to expand its network presence and sales. He remarked that Engstler is the right person to lead Bentley’s European operations “in this direction."
Prior to joining Bentley, Engstler was part of dealer group Porsche Holding Salzburg, serving as managing director of Exclusive Cars Vienna. He also served in a number of senior sales roles at several premium car brands.
Bentley posted a 7-percent surge in sales in Europe in the first nine months of 2014 to 1,555 units, helped by strong demand for Continental GT models.
Moreover, the company will offer in 2016 an SUV model that it hopes would help it achieve its global sales goal of 15,000 units by 2018. The carmaker expects to deliver 15,000 annual global sales by 2018, up from a record 10,120 cars last year. The company expects to sell at least 3,000 SUVs annually. [source: Bentley]
