Bentley has said its high-earning customers have been unnerved by the credit crunch which is curbing their spending.

Franz-Josef Paefgen, chief executive of Bentley, told The Times that financial pressure across the world was having a particularly heavy affect on sales in the US, Bentley’s biggest market.

Bentley sells 45% of its annual output of 10,000 cars in the US and Paefgen admitted he was more concerned about the current banking crisis than carbon emissions.

The luxury saloon manufacturer is now expected to expand its operations in growing markets like Russia and China to offset the struggles in Northern America and Europe.