Aston Martin in a leather jacket
They’ve built a plane, a submarine and now a bike. Car editor (and ex-bike deputy editor) Ben Miller explains
‘All of a sudden the least expensive new Aston is a motorcycle’
All of a sudden the least expensive new Aston Martin money can buy isn’t a car but a motorcycle, the limited edition, mostly carbon ibre, £93,000 AMB 001. The bike, a collaboration with Brough Superior powered by a turbocharged V-twin, is an unexpected move even by Aston Martin’s standards. Aston’s early plays under current CEO Andy Palmer were shot through with good sense. He established a relationship with Mercedes to get hold of infotainment systems and control electronics (two fiendishly expensive areas of R&D). Ditto the riotous twin-turbo Mercedes-amg V8 that powers the Vantage and V8 DB11. Palmer’s technical partnership with F1 team Red Bull produced the incredible Valkyrie hypercar – a calling card for both concerns.
Then things got weirder. We’ve had a plane, a submarine, bicycles the price of motorcycles, two hybrid supercars and a property venture, Aston Martin Residences.
And now we have a big-money, nonsensical motorcycle – a naked, turbo track bike, with fiendishly expensive carbon bodywork?! Why do it? In part because it can – it’s a company with some brilliant design and engineering minds, not to mention a strong brand – and in part because Aston’s desperate to be seen not merely as a car maker but, like arch rivals Ferrari, as a maker of luxury goods. This isn’t mere vanity but linked to its financials now that Aston, like Ferrari before it, has gone public.
The firm’s flotation has been disastrous, share value plummeting by 75% since its October 2018 debut. Anything they can do to burnish the brand – and a cool motorcycle can’t hurt – is worth trying.