When Felicity Ace’s car vessel caught fire, the timing couldn’t have been worse. In the midst of the pandemic, when it was difficult enough to produce vehicles, the loss of about 4,000 fully built units was a big blow. But few brands have suffered as significantly as Bentley.
The British high-end carmaker produces expensive luxury cars, so according to the word Automotive news. The Felicity Ace, however, failed with 189 Bentleys on board, 151 of which were sold and ordered back.
This meant that many customers who wanted to finally get their hands on the Bentleys they had ordered, many of which were made from help from Mullinerhad to say that their cars were actually unavailable just as they were supposed to arrive.
BentleyHowever, senior management quickly responded to the emergency and got these orders back into their system before the ship sank. Fortunately, the automaker was able to grab the production slots that were higher on the list.
Bentley’s Chinese division, for example, was experiencing low demand at the time and was therefore able to wait a little longer for its cars. Shortly after the ship sank, Russia invaded Ukraine, which means that the production slots are no longer needed by many Russian customers.
BentleyMeanwhile, American dealers were in the know from day one. While it helped tremendously to know what was going on, dealership employees like Juan Hinestroso, Bentley Miami’s general sales manager, still had to tell customers what happened. Fortunately, it was well received.
“It went smoothly,” Hinestroza told AN. “It has been very well received by customers, as can be expected. No one was angry. I think people’s mindsets have changed a bit since COVID; people began to understand more.”
Naturally, it helped that communication was prompt and that they were able to give their customers a timeline for when they would receive their new vehicle. Buyers were even offered to change their order, but only one Bentley Miami customer chose to change color their vehicle.
The ordeal turned out to be a relative success for Bentley, who coped well with the unusual incident. Things could have easily gone the other way since then America is the brand’s largest market, with 189 vehicles accounting for more than 20 percent of annual sales in the country.
Finally, all 20 cars headed to Bentley Miami have been restored and are now with their customers.
https://www.carscoops.com/2022/10/how-bentley-replaced-the-189-vehicles-that-sank-aboard-the-felicity-ace/
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