The number of cars sold in Russia by luxury automobile brand Bentley has grown by 48.5 percent in the first half of 2016, a report by motoring analytics company Avtostat revealed Thursday.
Some 153 Bentleys were sold in Russia in the first six months of this year, compared to 103 between January and June in 2015.
The company's best selling model is the ultra-luxury SUV Bentley Bentayga, accounting for 41 percent of the total sales. Of those cars sold, 112 were bought in Moscow or the Moscow region, 14 in St. Petersburg, and nine in the Krasnodarsk region.
Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported in April this year that that luxury car makers such as Bentley, Lamborghini, Ferrari may be forced to leave the country due to new proposals requiring cars to carry locally-made Era-Glonass emergency response systems.
The European Business Association and the Volkswagen Group, which includes the Porsche, Bentley, and Lamborghini brands, have both appealed to the government to scrap the proposals. They claim that the cost of the safety systems would exceed their sales return due to the cars' exclusive nature and low customer numbers.
