Bentley Motors today announced they are set to make hundreds of redundancies from its South Cheshire luxury car plant as part of “long-term competitiveness and operational efficiency”.
They said a consultation programme affecting management, agency and non-manufacturing employees will begin.
It comes as the car maker reported a seventh consecutive year of profitability despite what it describes as a “challenging global market environment”.
In total, 275 positions could be at risk as part of the restructure.
Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, Chairman and CEO of Bentley Motors, said: “We are investing at unprecedented levels in the Pyms Lane site, including the Design Centre, opened in July last year, the near completion of the A1 building for BEV production, and the upcoming opening of the new Paint Shop later this year.
“At the same time, we are making some difficult decisions to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the business, including an organisational adjustment potentially impacting approximately 275 positions.
“I want to express my sincere appreciation to those affected – we are committed to supporting each individual with care, guidance and assistance throughout this transition.
“These actions, alongside our investments and Beyond100+ strategy, ensure Bentley remains financially resilient, strategically focused and well-positioned for the next generation of luxury vehicles.”
Karen Lewis, GMB organiser, said: “These cuts have come out of the blue and the workforce is stunned.
“Trump’s tariff’s have hit Bentley hard and the company is still feeling the affects of the Covid lockdown.
“GMB will stand side by side with members in Bentley to ensure the minimum redundancies and the maximum pay outs.”
Their latest financial results were impacted by a number of external factors, with customer deliveries declined by 5%, particularly in China.
However, it still made a revenue of €2.6 billion across its portfolio in 2025, a drop of one per cent on previous year.
The Bentayga continues to be Bentley’s best-selling model, with the Bentayga Speed entering key markets at the end of 2025.
The company reported an operating profit €216 million, resulting in an operating return on sales of 8.3%.
Axel Dewitz, Board Member for Finance and IT, added: “Bentley has delivered a seventh consecutive year of profitability, demonstrating strong underlying financial performance despite a challenging macro environment.
“While reported results reflect a non-recurring accounting impact and external trade effects, the underlying business remains resilient.
“Revenue quality is supported by disciplined pricing and a rich model mix, with Mulliner bespoke demand continuing to grow.
“These results give us confidence that Bentley’s financial foundation is solid, whilst highlighting the need to continue to invest in our future product portfolio and site transformation.”
I was at RRBMC for more than 30 years, spanning the time before and after Volkswagen ownership.
During the Vickers era, (a very dark time) sales were disastrous, and I briefed my staff that the company was losing more than £300M a year, which was obviously unsustainable, and that led to the purchase of the company by VW, who spent £500M to buy the company, and immediately committed another £500M for development.
Today’s Bentley…both the site and the product…is a gigantic improvement on how it was pre-VW, and whilst there were many things about VW ownership, I wasn’t comfortable with, there’s no doubt that without VW, Bentley simply wouldn’t exist. Any job losses are hard, but Volkswagen isn’t a charity, and didn’t get to be a global brand by shirking difficult decisions.
JD’s assertion that “Agency Staff as such are not employees of Bentleys” may be technically correct but is a shameful, morally bankrupt observation!
How can it be right that diligent, hard-working folks served the Company very well for as long as up to two years can be urgently hired and so summarily fired when deemed surplus to requirements after extensive exploitation of their labours?
It’s understandable Employers have to sometimes cut their cloth accordingly to remain competitive but it truly stinks when a consistently significantly profitable Outfit can so ruthlessly and easily discard long term staff who surely merit a fair degree of Job Security?
Extensive exploitation of their labour Stan? Were they not paid? Were they indentured? I think they were forunate to have so many months or even years of employment. Bentley is acting no differently than any other modern company which has to balance its financial performance with the need for workers and uses agency staff (NOT zero hours staff) to fill temporary gaps. They have not been forced to work these contracts – they are free to get full time roles.
Read the narrative, most of the people this will impact are agency staff and as such are not employees of Bentleys. Unfortunate as it is for agency staff they usually are aware that their roles are temporary and have none of the “ security “ that contacted employees have. Management roles are usually optimised over time and are consolidated where logical. What’s happening is not unique to Bentley . My understanding of the company is they are a generous employer and will work with unions etc to offer support to those affected. lastly the sector is changing rapidly as are skill requirements hence why the company need to continually develop their business offering and ensure that shareholders value is rewarded
I was working in Bentley for 5 years and still feel as part of it.
I guess these plans are dictated by Volkswagen.
Operating Profit of €216 but ‘Job Security’ for hundreds of employees is non-existent?…Shudder to think how Bentley would react to any slight downturn in business?😱…