Aston Martin Lagonda Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll has today stated that the completion of his investment into the company will ensure that it is ready for a total “reset” when Covid-19 restrictions lift. The Canadian businessman, who has led a £262 million consortium and is pledging to put Aston Martin on the Formula 1 grid next year, said that the manufacturer’s re-opening will see it go through a “necessary rebalancing of supply to demand for our core models” - seen as a key facet in turning the the firms fortunes around.
The first and likely most important chapter will come at the very start, when production for Aston’s all-new DBX begins. The SUV is said to have received more than half of its 5,000 per annum order quota already, suggesting it could quickly become the company’s most profitable model. But Stroll emphasised that Aston’s subsequent mid-engined cars, the Valhalla and Vanquish, were also significant in this plan, as they “are set to position Aston Martin firmly in [its] sector and complete [a] range of highly engineered and beautiful sports cars”.
Stroll also noted that due attention will return to “electric cars [that] combine performance and luxury with environmental sustainability”. His altered business plan has so far seen Aston shelve its EV plans, headed by the planned 155-run Rapide E, a car that’s now being called a research project to enable later production projects to hit the ground running. Aston’s Lagonda arm was focussed entirely on EV models, having shown the Lagonda and All-Terrain concepts in recent years.
Alongside his restructured product plan, 60-year-old billionaire Stroll has re-affirmed his ambitions to turn his Racing Point F1 team – a squad which his son Lance drives for – into the first Aston Martin Grand Prix team since 1960. That’s something he believes will provide “a significant global marketing platform to strengthen [Aston] and engage with [its] customers and partners across the world”. The F1 involvement also includes new investment from a Mercedes-AMG F1 boss Toto Wolff-led consortium, with the 48-year-old Austrian buying a stake of 0.95 per cent as a personal financial investment by taking advantage of present 55p share prices.
Aston Martin is among the handful of British automotive manufacturers presently supplying the NHS with personal protective equipment, meaning it has not completely shut up shop. Stroll praised the company for “the significant efforts being made by everyone at Aston Martin Lagonda to support the business as we manage through this uncertain time”, and that the restarting of manufacturing operations “to bring the organisation back to full operating life” will be done “in a way that ensures [the firm] will protect [its] people”. The first DBXs to roll out of the firm’s freshly-completed St Athans plant, it seems, will be made by socially-distanced, PPE-wearing staffers.
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