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Cash influx could help Aston Martin double sales

Aston Martin is on the verge of a major product overhaul – complete with new architecture and powertrains. And good thing, considering that the Vantage and DB9 are each about a decade old. But to make it all happen, the British automaker is going to need a massive capital influx. Fortunately, that's just what it got when Investindustrial came on board. The Italian private equity fund, which previously owned a large chunk of Ducati and is now building a Ferrari theme park in Spain, bought a 37.5 percent stake in Aston Martin back in 2012. The acquisition reportedly cost Investindustrial the better part of a quarter billion dollars, but that's not the end of the firm's investment in Aston. According to Bloomberg, Investindustrial is now pouring even more into the Gaydon-based marque to help fund its product blitz. The output of that investment is expected to be announced at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. That's where Aston's new chief executive Andy Palmer (whom Investindustrial reportedly helped poach from Nissan) is tipped to announce the company's new product plan that is earmarked to help double the company's sales from around 4,000 units last year to as many as 8,000 once those new products reach the market. The plan will assuredly include replacements for Aston's trademark luxury GTs, but could also encompass a new crossover utility vehicle to give it a greater foothold in growing markets like China while taking on similar new products from key rivals like Bentley and Maserati. While those two competitors are owned by larger auto groups – Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler, respectively – Aston is independent. It's brokered a deal with Mercedes (thanks once again in no small part to Investindustrial) to help with components it can't effectively develop in-house, but the cash injection will be critical to the brand's revival plans.

How chasing Ferrari improved Aston Martin, with help from Mercedes-Benz

GAYDON, England — After decades of ups and downs, British carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda is charting a more efficient and profitable way forward, leaning on technology from shareholder Mercedes-Benz to make the costly leap to electric vehicles (EVs). Less than two years after billionaire Lawrence Stroll drove to the rescue of James Bond's car brand of choice, Aston Martin has undergone a manufacturing makeover to lift margins and help it become more like rival Ferrari. Stroll, Aston Martin's largest shareholder and executive chairman, who is also an avid fan of Ferrari, says after vehicle sales jumped 82% in 2021 the carmaker's transformation to long-term profitability is well under way, with new cars coming and funding secured through 2025. But analysts say Aston Martin, which has gone bust seven times since it was founded in 1913 and has flirted with death as often as Agent 007, is still burning through piles of cash. Some question its ability to generate Ferrari-like sales to fund the vast cost of electrification. "It's precarious and it is possible for this company to go bust," said Redburn equity research analyst Charles Coldicott. "I don't think it's a controversial thing to say even though Aston wouldn't like to hear it." Asked to comment on perceptions of a shaky future, an Aston Martin spokesman reiterated Stroll's view that the carmaker is well on the way to long-term profitability and that it has adequate access to cash. On a tour of the carmaker's Gaydon factory, Tobias Moers, formerly head of Mercedes' high-performance AMG brand and Aston Martin chief executive since August 2020, rattles off a list of moves including cutting one of two assembly lines and bringing more bespoke items like seats in-house. Perhaps the biggest shift has been to focus on higher-value customer-driven and customized orders — a big part of Ferrari's success — rather than over-producing and churning out sports cars wholesale, which then had to be discounted. "When I came in, the company was manufacturing-dominated instead of engineering-led, which for an auto luxury business is insane," Moers said. "In a company this size, you need maximum flexibility and agility." Moers has cut Aston Martin's inventory to 600 sports cars from 2,000 — its cars sell for an average of around 150,000 pounds ($195,750) — and customized orders now account for 50% of sales versus 6% when he joined the firm. At that point, the carmaker was in trouble after a disastrous 2018 public listing.

British firm helps Aston Martin, Zagato re-create commemorative Vantage

In early 2012, Aston Martin honored its decades-old partnership with Italian coachbuilder Zagato by introducing the aptly-named limited-edition V12 Zagato at the Geneva Motor Show. Fast forward to 2020, and a British firm with Swiss roots named R-Reforged has obtained permission to build 38 additional cars it will sell as pairs. These are continuation cars like the ones made by Alvis, Bentley, and Shelby, among others, but the gap they bridge is much smaller than we're used to. R-Reforged starts with a V12 Vantage platform and keeps the naturally aspirated, 5.9-liter V12 engine. It's tuned to deliver 600 horsepower, a 90-horse increase over the original's rating. Enthusiasts can choose between an automatic transmission and a seven-speed manual. Rear-wheel drive is the only configuration available regardless of pedal count in the driver's footwell. R-Reforged is bringing back the coupe and convertible variants of the Zagato-bodied Aston, and both make extensive use of carbon fiber to keep weight in check. They also gain center-locking 19-inch alloy wheels and a deployable rear wing for added stability. It replaces the much bigger wing fitted to the 101 examples of the car manufactured in the early 2010s. The sky is the limit when it comes to customization; R-Reforged can turn any color sample into a paint color. Customers will have the opportunity to watch their car being built, too. R-Reforged will only sell the 19 coupes and 19 convertibles in pairs, so plan on freeing up two spaces in your garage before reserving a pair of build slots. Act fast, too, because a majority of the production is spoken for, according to the company. Pricing has been set at $2.2 million for the pair. To add context, Aston Martin originally charged GBP330,000 for the V12 Zagato, a figure that converts to approximately $400,000.