It’s the year 2012, the world hates SUVs, not the Pickups, no, mind you. However, with each day passing, the industry revolved massively, and so did the demands of the potential buyers. Tesla came into the market, tried to change the perception of many, but couldn’t achieve what it had wanted to.
Ford, on the other hand, raked in as many bucks as it possibly could, courtesy of the F-150 series. Carmakers like Bentley and Aston Martin didn’t even think once about potentially launching an SUV, because that would have been odd and a disaster, no? Fast-forward to 2021, that’s certainly not the case anymore!
Speaking first of unarguably one of the biggest automakers in the world, Ford Motor Company has just recorded a mammoth $1.1 billion in profits alone (before any interest and tax) in the second quarter of this year. This simply means that the Blue Oval managed to do all of this, in just three months! All of this was made possible by the F-150 Lightning and the Bronco.
It was back in April this year that the maker had expected to lose as much as 50% of its planned second-quarter production thanks to the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage, but also thanks to the ramp-up of production at key Japanese chipmaker Renesas, the effects were less harsh.
Apart from the F-150 Lightning, a full-blown EV version of one of the most popular names to have been built in the history of automobiles, the Mustang Mach-E, another EV ‘variant’ of the Mustang, having only been launched several months ago is already the second most popular EV in the States. Clearly, the demands and the build quality of Ford speak for themselves!
“We’re on a new path, with the Ford+ plan, financial flexibility, and a resolve to make us an even stronger company. We’re developing connected, high-quality vehicles and services that are great for customers and profitable for Ford,” said Ford CFO John Lawler.
Switching our focus to Bentley Motors Limited, a subsidiary of the VW Group, reports the first half of 2021 is its best one, yet. Around 7,199 cars were sold, as China became its largest market for the first time in a decade. Since SUVs are in mind-boggling demand, the Bentayga led the charge for Bentley as the crew in Crewe sold 2,766 units of its SUV.
The Continental GT coupe and the convertible couple were sold 2,318 times, with the now-flagship model, the Flying Spur sedan, made 2,063 people happy. As for the revenue, the first half of this year generated €1.3 billion compared to €834.8 million in 2019. Bentley says the demand will only increase in the second half of this year, all thanks to new variants of the Bentayga on their way.
Speaking of another British auto manufacturer, but this time an independent one, Aston Martin. Aston currently has the DBS, DB11, Vantage, and the all-important DBX SUV in its range, for the general public. The British maker’s first-ever SUV is most certainly the reason behind Aston’s monumental sales figures.
The company has also reported a 224% increase in overall sales in the first half of this year, resulting in more than 2,900 vehicles sold, of which more than half were the DBX(s)! “We’ve delivered everything that we promised that we would deliver in the first half,” says CEO Tobias Moers. “The business has stabilized and now it’s about the growth story and delivering the products that we promised as well.” It could even get better for Aston as a coupe and the PHEV variant of the DBX are also on the way!
That’s that, then – the Toyota Corolla may be the world’s best-seller, but without a shred of a doubt, SUVs will soon catch up the sedan, because hey, for the same money (more-or-less), you get the whole deal!
