ALL CHANGE AT ASTON MARTIN

HE’S A CAR GUY, A GUN ENGINEER AND THE MAN WHO TRANSFORMED AMG. BUT WHAT CAN WE EXPECT NOW THAT TOBIAS MOERS IS IN THE HOT SEAT AT ASTON?

Palmer gets the boot, Moers takes the reins. Here’s what to expect

IN A BID to prop up a share price that looked to be in a death spiral, Tobias Moers, the former head of AMG, has been appointed CEO of Aston Martin, bringing to an end the six-year tenure of Andy Palmer.

Moers won’t formally take up the position until the start of August, with Keith Stanton, Aston’s former head of manufacturing, taking up the reins as an interim Chief Operating Officer, reporting to the Executive Chairman, Lawrence Stroll.

While Moers’ resume is unimpeachable, doubling the size of AMG’s product portfolio while quadrupling its sales, his vision in strategic product planning has cemented his reputation. The company’s move to downsized turbo engines has been exemplary, but industry rumour suggests that Moers was only comfortable going so far along this path, leading to an internal conflict and his move to Gaydon.

Others see a very different motivation, with Moers set to further cement a relationship with MercedesAMG that started when Aston Martin inked an agreement to source engines and electronics from Affalterbach in 2013 and which was quietly bolstered behind the scenes via the buy-in of Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff.

The bald facts that ushered Palmer from the company are sobering. Since its public float in 2018, Aston’s share price has fallen by 94 percent. This plunge was exacerbated by sagging revenues, even before coronavirus wrecked the revised timeline of the ‘Second Century’ plan.

Costs from building the new St Athan plant, the ambitious development of fringe mid-engined supersports models, heavy discounting of vehicles and the late entry to market of the DBX SUV – a vehicle which Aston Martin appeared to bet the house on – destroyed investor confidence in the stewardship of the company. Palmer will be remembered as a CEO who got much right, yet couldn’t finesse the timeline to the satisfaction of stakeholders.

Just nine months into his stewardship, Palmer considered his future. “Aston has only been profitable for a few of its 102 years, and for only one of its owners. What were the chances of success?” he asked. “I know the vital model generation will be the one after this, the one we pay for ourselves. I want to be around to make it happen.” Sadly, he won’t. And Tobias Moers has a great deal of work to do.

Moers’ vision in strategic product planning has cemented his reputation