Aston Martin: Vantage 2 Door Coupe on 2040-cars

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Aston Martin reboots its EV offensive with Mercedes-Benz technology

Mercedes-Benz will provide Aston Martin the technology it needs to enter the electric car segment, according to the British firm's top executive. Its first battery-powered model is scheduled to arrive in 2025 at the earliest. As we've previously reported, Mercedes will increase its stake in Aston Martin to 20% by 2023. In exchange, it will grant the company access to its hybrid and electric powertrains. It's a win-win situation: On one hand, Mercedes can leverage the benefits of economies of scale. On the other hand, Aston Martin (which is far smaller) is able to access turn-key technology without spending an exorbitant amount of money on development. Executives are consequently rebooting Aston Martin's on-again, off-again electrification offensive. Its first electric model will be built using Mercedes-Benz-sourced technology when it goes on sale in 2025 or 2026, according to Automotive News Europe. Company boss Tobias Moers (who ran Mercedes-AMG until earlier in 2020) clarified the platform will come from Germany, but there's no word yet on whether the motor and the battery will, too. However, he confirmed plans to resurrect the Lagonda name on an electric-only sub-brand have been canceled. "Lagonda has a different purpose for the future. Electric-driven cars are supposed to be Aston Martins," he said. Hybrids are in the pipeline, too, including a gasoline-electric version of the high-riding DBX. Engineers were previously developing the technology in-house, but the project could end up in the automotive ash heap now that more Mercedes powertrains are in the picture. Moers affirmed he hasn't decided which route to take yet. "We are still working on that [hybrid drivetrain], but now we have alternatives. It's too early to say," he noted. Aston Martin will release the mid-engined Valhalla in 2021, and the plug-in hybrid DBX will begin rolling off the production line in 2023. Several new models will make their debut that year, Moers promised a "product firework," and it's reasonable to assume most will be available with some degree of electrification. He predicted every fourth or fifth car Aston Martin sells in 2024 will be electrified in one way or another. Green blues Aston Martin's path to electrification hasn't been smooth. In 2015, it joined forces with China-based LeEco to build an electric variant of the Rapide, but it was forced to finish the project on its own after its partner canceled the deal due to financial issues.

Aston Martin stock price shaken and stirred by latest weak outlook

Aston Martin warned its 2019 profits would almost be cut in half due to weak European markets, sending its shares sharply lower as rivals Bentley and Rolls-Royce powered ahead. Tuesday's downgrade is the latest from the British luxury carmaker, whose shares have now plunged about three quarters in value since their 2018 listing. The 107-year-old firm, famed for being fictional agent James Bond's brand of choice, cut its forecast for wholesale volumes and profit margins in July, and reduced its volume forecast again in November. It has blamed weak UK and European markets and subdued demand for its Vantage model and said on Tuesday those conditions continued through December, leading to a 7% drop in wholesale volumes for 2019. "From a trading perspective, 2019 has been a very disappointing year," Chief Executive Officer Andy Palmer said, as the company's shares plunged as much as 16%. While Aston spent 2019 ploughing money into a new factory to build its first SUV, the highly lucrative market a number of carmakers have entered, rivals such as BMW-owned Rolls-Royce and Volkswagen-owned Bentley appear one step ahead. Bentley on Tuesday said its Bentayga SUV boosted the brand's performance in 2019 as it returned to profitability, while Rolls-Royce's Cullinan helped drive a 25% increase in sales to an all-time high of 5,152 vehicles. "Cullinan has proven to be an outstanding hot seller for the brand," Chief Executive Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes told Reuters. "We are sitting now on an order bank reaching even far into 2020." Aston hopes its first SUV, the DBX, will emulate this success and revive its fortunes next year. About 1,800 orders have been booked since its launch in November, the company said. "The order rate is materially better than any other car that we have ever launched before," Palmer told Reuters. For 2019, Aston expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 130-140 million pounds ($171 million to $184 million). The company reported 247.3 million pounds in core profit a year earlier, while analysts' average forecast was 196 million pounds for 2019, according to a company-compiled consensus. Aston said it was also in talks with investors for a potential equity investment and would draw down $100 million in bond notes. Its shares, which have lost nearly 3 billion pounds in market value since their listing, were down 11.1% to 464.8 pence at 1136 GMT.  

Aston Martin not actively pursuing new investors as opens SUV plant

ST ATHAN, Wales — Aston Martin, which was reported this week to be the target of Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, said it was not actively pursuing new investors on Friday as it opened a new factory to build its first sport utility vehicle. As some in the global car industry turn to partnerships, alliances or mergers to handle the challenge of electrification, new technology and tighter margins, Autocar magazine reported on Thursday that Stroll, the owner of Formula One team Racing Point, is preparing to buy a major stake in Aston. "You know what we would have to do if there was an official approach. Beyond that, I can't comment," Aston's chief executive Andy Palmer told Reuters at the factory opening, referring to rules governing publicly-listed companies. "We're certainly not actively soliciting any other participation. That's not to say it doesn't come," he said when asked whether Aston needed a new investor. The British automaker's new factory in south Wales holds the key to ending a poor performance this year from Aston, whose shares have tumbled 75% this year on weaker-than-expected sales. In August, Aston's biggest investor, Strategic European Investment Group, bought an extra 3% stake in the 106-year-old company, whose second largest shareholder is a Kuwaiti investor. Last month Aston, which floated in October 2018, launched its DBX model, hoping that more female buyers will help boost sales after posting a pre-tax loss of 92.3 million pounds ($118 million) for the first nine months. It hopes its new factory, in St Athan, near Cardiff, will help turn around its fortunes. The plant is its second alongside its historic one in Gaydon, central England. As the autos sector consolidates through deals such as the merge of Peugeot and Fiat, Aston has said it does not need to belong to a bigger automotive group, pointing to the success of stand-alone rival Ferrari. Palmer said the small stake held by Germany's Daimler allows Aston to have access to technology and benefit from the speed at which it can operate independently. "There is a perfectly rational route to success in our current state," he said. Reporting by Costas Pitas.