Bentley to cut 150 UK jobs following 40% profit drop

Bentley will cut 150 jobs at its Crewe base as it streamlines operations after a financial year of stalling income and a forced rewrite of its future model plan. The affected roles haven’t yet been confirmed, but CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser said they would be office-based. These redundancies will take place over the next 12 months. The restructuring will remove a further 125 positions by closing open roles (which have been created by employees leaving the company recently) and not renewing agency contracts. In total this is around 6% of the firm's 4600-strong workforce. Finance boss Axel Dewitz said the decision to cut roles wasn't driven by an emergency or crisis but instead a need to be “more efficient” in the face of headwinds and increased costs. Indeed, Wallier said “cost management is definitely on the higher priority everywhere in the automotive industry”. Bentley recorded revenues of £2.25 billion in 2025/26, just a 1% drop year on year. However, pre-tax profits of £186.6 million were down 40%, driven by costs associated with geopolitical uncertainties (such as the new US tariffs), suppliers and a slump in China. While volumes were down 5%, this was offset by a higher average price per vehicle, resulting in a 8.3% return on sales. Regarding the cuts, Dewitz said: “It is a very considered and very measured, focused review of our structures in the current turbulent times that every one of us are aware of. “And it is not a reaction to a dominant crisis. It's about increasing speed, increasing agility. It’s to get the right structure in place and to increase our robustness as to the ever-changing environment. And we would like to translate that into a competitive advantage.” Bentley was also hit by changes within the wider Volkswagen Group, notably Porsche’s decision to delay its Sport (or '61') version of the forthcoming EV-only SSP platform into the next decade. Dewitz said the financial impact was small (“in the three figures”) but Walliser added that it required a substantial rewrite of Bentley's product plan, as it was to underpin most of the British brand's next-generation models. “The cancellation of the SSP 61 [meant] we had to renew and rethink and recalculate our complete product line up for all future offers,” said Walliser. “So if you compare our planning with the planning we did have two years ago, it looks now completely different.” He added that because “the platform is just not available any more”, next-generation Bentleys will stay on the current MLB platform and be primarily sold with plug-in hybrid powertrains. The first of these will be the next Bentayga in 2028. The brand will also continue to offer pure-ICE power, but this will be kept to “selective” models such as the Continental Supersports. “The next generation of the cars will feature plug-in hybrids and we look very selective in ICE-only, but this depends also a little bit on markets and legislation,” said Walliser. “There is a lot of work to do, I have to say. I cannot now go into all the details, but we stay with a balanced portfolio.” Walliser said the changes don't affect the electric 'Luxury Urban SUV', which is still planned to be revealed in the second half of the year. A second EV isn't planned to arrive until after 2030, he added.

main menu

Bentley to cut 150 UK jobs following 40% profit drop

Tough year also led firm to rewrite future product plan after Porsche's decision to delay SSP Sport platform

Join the debate

Add your comment

More from Autocar

Top 10s

Latest car reviews

Top manufacturers

Quick search

Legal bits

About Autocar

main menu

Bentley to cut 150 UK jobs following 40% profit drop

Tough year also led firm to rewrite future product plan after Porsche's decision to delay SSP Sport platform

Autocar Registration Block

Join the debate

Add your comment

More from Autocar

Top 10s

Latest car reviews

Top manufacturers

Quick search

We recommend

Legal bits

About Autocar