Ultra-luxury Bentley car brand opens dealership in Ukraine (07/03/05)

Ultra-luxury Bentley car brand opens dealership in Ukraine

by Olga Nuzhinskaya
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - Bentley, an ultra-luxury British car brand owned by Germany's Volkswagen Group, on May 26 opened a dealership in Ukraine - its first such venture in the former Soviet republic.

Vipkar, a Kyiv-based car dealer that received dealership rights from Bentley earlier this year, opened the showroom in the Ukrainian capital's plush Arena shopping mall.

This is the first time that Bentley cars will be marketed through an official representative in a former Soviet state, outside Russia.

For those not familiar with the brand, in the past Bentley was produced by the same company that made its luxurious sister, the Rolls-Royce. In fact, historically the Bentley was said to have differed from Rolls-Royce only in the trademark Rolls grill and radiator ornament.

However, the Rolls and Bentley brands went their separate ways in an ugly divorce after a corporate legal battle when the Rolls line ran into financial difficulties. Now, instead of being considered the Rolls' little sister, the Bentley has stepped out on its on and to some extent surpassed the Rolls in the battle for the very limited market for automobiles that cost more than 100,000 British pounds - $180,000 (U.S.) even for a used model.

The most prominent model exhibited at the opening was a 2005 Bentley Continental Flying Spur with a price tag of $187,000.

The shiny black sedan is equipped with a 12-cylinder, six-liter, 552-horsepower engine and an automatic six-gear drive with continuous power to all four wheels.

With an interior decorated with silk and leather and a traditional wooden dashboard, the car accelerates to 60 mph in only 4.9 seconds; its maximum speed is 195 mph.

"During the opening day we sold two cars ... and we already delivered six others ordered before the opening," said Geoff Dowding, Bentley's regional director for Europe. He refused to reveal the identities of his customers.

It is expected that Bentley will find its place in the garages of Ukraine's wealthiest people, along with Daimler-Chrysler's Maybachs, customized Hummer jeeps, Rolls Royce limousines and Jaguar coupes.

Although the showroom is located in a comparatively small section of the shopping mall, Mr. Dowding said that "size doesn't matter."

"It's the refined style and the spirit of Bentley that attracts customers," he said.

He also said that company has already developed a considerable market in neighboring Russia and that Bentley's sales in Ukraine "are no better or worse than anywhere else in the world."

Mr. Dowding said that Bentley's dealer in Moscow sold 70 cars last year, but that he expects "that the sales in Ukraine will be much better" after the showroom's opening.

Despite the fact that the great majority of the Ukrainian population can't afford luxury in country where the minimum monthly wage and pension is 332 hrv (just over $66 U.S.) there is a growing elite with lots of money.

Forbes Magazine included three Ukrainian tycoons, Rynat Akhmetov (worth $2.4 billion with business interests in steel and coal mining), Viktor Pinchuk (worth $1.3 billion, steel) and Serhiy Taruta (worth $1 billion, steel) in its most recent annual survey of the world's richest people.

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