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Amadeo Felisa replaces Tobias Moers as Aston Martin CEO

Aston Martin Lagonda on Wednesday named former Ferrari boss Amedeo Felisa as its new chief executive officer as the British luxury carmaker works on emulating the Italian carmaker's success and electrifying its brand. Felisa will take over with immediate effect from Tobias Moers, who joined the company in 2020 from shareholder Mercedes-Benz's high-performance AMG brand and served as CEO and chief technical officer. Felisa currently serves on Aston Martin's board and led Ferrari between 2008 and 2016 when it was still part of the Fiat group. Most recently, Felisa served as a special adviser to Silk-FAW, a joint venture between U.S.-based automotive engineering and design firm Silk EV and Chinese automaker FAW. Billionaire Lawrence Stroll drove to the rescue of James Bond's car brand of choice less than two years ago while it struggled after a disastrous IPO. Stroll has overseen a manufacturing makeover at Aston Martin to lift margins and help it become more like rival Ferrari with more customized car orders. Now the carmaker's largest shareholder and executive chairman, Stroll told Reuters that Moers had stabilized the company when it "needed immediate manufacturing, operation attention" but now Aston Martin needed a CEO to "focus on the bigger picture". "Nobody knows how to make ultra-luxury performance cars better than Amedeo," Stroll said. "He saw the movie, he wrote the script." Aston Martin plans to launch its first fully-electric car in 2025. Aston also named former Ferrari and BMW executive Roberto Fedeli as its chief technical officer. The latest appointments come just months after the company's former chief financial office also left Aston Martin. Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois wrote in a client note that Aston Martin's new CFO and the appointment of Felisa "will hopefully help stabilize management across the company". On Wednesday, Aston Martin reported a wider pretax loss of 111.6 million pounds ($139.15 million) for the first quarter, compared with a loss of 42.2 million pounds a year earlier, which was largely in line with expectations. Related video: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Aston Martin

Aston Martin Valkyrie does a tantalizing lap of Silverstone

The Aston Martin Valkyrie performed a low-level fly-by at Britain's Silverstone Circuit during the Formula One Grand Prix weekend. The lap marked the first public demonstration of the future paterfamilias of the Aston Martin range, after months of digital modeling and time in the simulator. Aston Martin test driver Chris Goodwin didn't drive the 1,160-horsepower coupe in anger, but he did touch the throttle with some emotion. Regrettably, video of the event lays music over the far more redeeming Cosworth V12 soundtrack, but we do get a taste of what's to come. Thing is, "Top Gear" visited Cosworth in December last year to get some face time with the 6.5-liter V12. Toward the end of the video, Cosworth ran an engine dyno simulation of the V12 going hard through the first sections of Silverstone. Oh, the sound. Oh, the fury. Combine that with the sight of the car cruising the circuit, and know that something wicked this way comes.  If you want to know just how serious the team behind the Valkyrie takes the brief, presenter Jack Rix said Red Bull F1 aerodynamics guru Adrian Newey stopped by the shop to look at the finished product, after two years of development. Newey tapped the lacquered carbon fiber intake manifold cover, then asked Cosworth how much the lacquer weighed. When Cosworth told him "130 grams," Newey looked disappointed. That response turned into offering Valkyrie buyers the option of having the engine's carbon cover with or without lacquer. In American terms, this is much ado over 4.6 ounces, or a McDonald's Royale with Cheese.   With deliveries scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of this year, Aston Martin has a packed program of validation testing for the car, called Verification Prototype 1. After that come competition entries into the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Aston Martin partners with Chinese company to make RapidE by 2018

Aston Martin intends to launch a production version of the electric RapidE concept by 2018, and a partnership with Chinese company LeEco should make that quick timeline possible. The deal brings the British brand a significant step closer to its goal of offering a more electrifying lineup. Under this deal, Aston Martin and LeEco will develop the battery and powertrain tech for the RapidE together, and they'll also work out how to produce the electric sedan. According to the announcement, some of these innovations might show up in Faraday Future vehicles because LeEco is the new name for LeTV, which is backing the mysterious EV startup. Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer confirmed development of the electric Rapid last spring and later said the company already had a test mule. Rumors suggest the all-wheel drive EV could be astoundingly powerful with between 800 and 1,000 horsepower. A single-charge range of 200 miles is also possible. However, the British company might produce only a few hundred RapidE's a year at prices between $200,000 and $250,000 each, which would make it a niche product for the boutique brand. The RapidE's high price and low production would keep the sedan out of the mainstream, but the model's development could allow Aston Martin to hone its EV prowess for the more mainstream DBX electric crossover. The CUV is due around 2019. ASTON MARTIN AND LEECO PARTNER TO CO-DEVELOP ELECTRIC VEHICLE Published: Feb 17, 2016 17 February 2016, Frankfurt, Germany: Leading global technology company LeEco and luxury sports car brand Aston Martin today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) towards the creation of a partnership that will develop a production version of the Aston Martin RapidE electric vehicle concept. It is anticipated that the partnership will see the two companies working together in developing and manufacturing RapidE, with potential for adding a range of next-generation connected electric vehicles on behalf of Aston Martin, LeEco and Faraday Future. This new signing extends the existing collaboration between the two companies. In January 2016, LeEco and Aston Martin revealed the first results of their partnership – an Aston Martin Rapide S incorporating the latest Letv Internet of the Vehicle (IOV) system.