Bentley told to become profitable within two years

Bentley has been told by two of the Volkswagen Group's main shareholders it needs to stop the flow of red ink, although it's not clear what will happen if it misses the target.

The call was made by the Porsche and Piech families, who not only own a significant portion of the company's voting stock, but also have two seats on its supervisory board.

Wolfgang Porsche told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (via Automotive News): "The important thing is for every brand [in the Volkswagen Group] to generate a reasonable contribution margin. That is not currently the case at Bentley, and we are not satisfied."

Hans Michel Piech told the newspaper the brand had only "one to two years" to turn things around.

During the first three quarters of 2018 Bentley lost around €137 million ($220 million). Within same period of 2017 the luxury marque turned a small profit.

The company's losses are blamed on two factors: Brexit and the latest Continental.

The British pound has fallen around 15 per cent since Britain voted to leave the EU, and this is said to have hurt the marque as it sources many components from Europe.

Production of the latest-generation Continental has been slow to ramp up as the company rushed to refine its Porsche-supplied dual-clutch transmission for life in a luxury cruiser, perfect the car's fit and finish, and complete WLTP certification for all of its models.

While the Volkswagen Group has in the past been able to overlook short-term losses in order to keep an eye on the long game, the company is investing heavily in an aggressive shift toward electric vehicles in the aftermath of the Dieselgate scandal.

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