The iconic British luxury sports car maker Aston Martin is hoping to stage a turnaround as it launched its first sport utility vehicle on Wednesday. The company has been facing serious issues of sales that did not meet the expectations of investors after the company went public resulting in the share price of the company plunging this year.
In its 106 year history of existence, the British car maker has gone bankrupt seven times and has seen its ownership change multiple times. Once owned by British auto giant Ford, Aston Martin is known for being fictional agent James Bond’s car of choice.
Last year, the company got itself listed at £19 (€22) per share and since then, there has been a 75 per cent drop in the share price of the company as the car failed to deliver the numbers in terms of sale of cars because of the dropping demand Europe and for its Vantage model. Currently, the company now mostly owned by Kuwaiti and Italian private equity groups.
Starting next year, the new DBX SUV model will be manufactured in a new factory in Wales which has seen the company making large investments even as the company reported a pre-tax loss of £92 million in the first nine months of the current year.
“We’re essentially holding the cost of a complete factory right now without the benefit of the revenues coming in ... so from that point of view of course it’s a really important model,” chief executive Andy Palmer told the media earlier this month.
Its new offering will attract more women buyers, the company hopes. This is based on the company putting to use inputs form a female advisory body about focusing on some specific features attractable for women such as separate central arm rests and a specific type of design for the glovebox.
The new SUV from Aston Martin is priced as €170,000 and is one of the last luxury-brand SUV models that will now be available in the market. This move by the British firm also coincides with a trend among auto makers to take advantage of a trend among customers to prefer the more powerful and expensive SUVs over sedans. This trend is most prominent in the United States and China – two of the largest car markets of the world.
The rivals for Aston Martin’s new SUV include the $165,000 (€149,000) Bentayga from Bentley and $325,000 Cullinan from Rolls-Royce at the luxury end of the spectrum and $126,500 Cayenne Turbo from Porsche and $200,000 Urus from Lamborghini at the sportier level.
The company said that the production of the DBX will begin in the second quarter of 2020 as it has finished with the first trial build of the SUV. The company further said that it hopes that this SUV will boost its overall output in addition to the sports cars manufactured by it the southern English Gaydon factory of Aston Martin. .
“If our volumes are slightly north of 6,000 this year, obviously you’re adding another ultimately 4 or 5,000 so it’s a big chunk of volume for us,” said Palmer.
(Source:www.irishtimes.com)
In its 106 year history of existence, the British car maker has gone bankrupt seven times and has seen its ownership change multiple times. Once owned by British auto giant Ford, Aston Martin is known for being fictional agent James Bond’s car of choice.
Last year, the company got itself listed at £19 (€22) per share and since then, there has been a 75 per cent drop in the share price of the company as the car failed to deliver the numbers in terms of sale of cars because of the dropping demand Europe and for its Vantage model. Currently, the company now mostly owned by Kuwaiti and Italian private equity groups.
Starting next year, the new DBX SUV model will be manufactured in a new factory in Wales which has seen the company making large investments even as the company reported a pre-tax loss of £92 million in the first nine months of the current year.
“We’re essentially holding the cost of a complete factory right now without the benefit of the revenues coming in ... so from that point of view of course it’s a really important model,” chief executive Andy Palmer told the media earlier this month.
Its new offering will attract more women buyers, the company hopes. This is based on the company putting to use inputs form a female advisory body about focusing on some specific features attractable for women such as separate central arm rests and a specific type of design for the glovebox.
The new SUV from Aston Martin is priced as €170,000 and is one of the last luxury-brand SUV models that will now be available in the market. This move by the British firm also coincides with a trend among auto makers to take advantage of a trend among customers to prefer the more powerful and expensive SUVs over sedans. This trend is most prominent in the United States and China – two of the largest car markets of the world.
The rivals for Aston Martin’s new SUV include the $165,000 (€149,000) Bentayga from Bentley and $325,000 Cullinan from Rolls-Royce at the luxury end of the spectrum and $126,500 Cayenne Turbo from Porsche and $200,000 Urus from Lamborghini at the sportier level.
The company said that the production of the DBX will begin in the second quarter of 2020 as it has finished with the first trial build of the SUV. The company further said that it hopes that this SUV will boost its overall output in addition to the sports cars manufactured by it the southern English Gaydon factory of Aston Martin. .
“If our volumes are slightly north of 6,000 this year, obviously you’re adding another ultimately 4 or 5,000 so it’s a big chunk of volume for us,” said Palmer.
(Source:www.irishtimes.com)
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