Bentley's Special Continental Models Command Top Dollar in Middle East

CREWE, England — When Bentley took the wraps off two special-edition Continental models targeted at "influential customers" in the Middle East on Tuesday, a natural question was "how much do they cost?" Bentley later told Inside Line that its dealer in Dubai is quoting "AED 900,000-950,000 depending on specification" or the U.S. equivalent of $245,000-$259,000.

Bentley said it will produce a mere 50 units of the Bentley Continental Flying Spur Arabia and the Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed Arabia.

In comparison, a base 2011 Bentley Continental Flying Spur starts at $186,795 in the U.S., including a $3,000 gas-guzzler tax and a $2,595 destination charge. The base 2011 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed starts at $212,195 in the U.S., including the $3,000 gas-guzzler tax and a $2,595 destination charge.

While the Middle East market now represents 10 percent of Bentley retail sales globally, the automaker tells Inside Line that it does have a bit of trouble "monitoring retail pricing" in the region.

"It's a bit difficult to provide a price for these models as we only provide transfer prices to the region and ultimately have no control over the retail pricing," said Bentley's U.S. spokesperson Valentine O'Connor in an e-mailed statement to Inside Line on Wednesday. "It may be best to express the price as a percentage premium above the standard Spur models — in this case the average premium for the Spur Arabia models would be approximately 10 percent above the standard Spur (this varies depending on the country.) The Middle East is one of the challenging regions as far as monitoring retail pricing is concerned."

Bentley said it created the exclusive models for its Arabic customers in "recognition of the growing importance of these influential customers."

Inside Line says: More proof of just how out-of-reach these Bentley models are for most of us. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent