SHAKEN NOT DETERRED
Lawrence Stroll, F1 boss and fashion mogul, has thrown Aston a lifeline. Here’s how the company plans to use it
Things were looking properly dodgy for Aston Martin in the first weeks of 2020. They couldn’t even get the DBX crossover into production without new borrowing at interest rates so punishingly high it was just kicking the can of financial agony a bit further down the road. This month, though, a rescue was led by Lawrence Stroll, saving the DBX and a range of supercars to come. The company can breathe easier.
But not relax. Number one task is to make damn sure the new range of cars will be fit to rival Ferrari. At the same time, number two is to run the company tightly enough that it doesn’t revisit the financial precipice it’s just peered over
– for the umpteenth time since it was established in 1913.
The finances mean the car plans have been rejigged. A year ago at the Geneva show, Aston brought not one, not two, but three mid-engined cars – in varying degrees of conceptiness. They won’t happen so soon as we were first told. But happen they will, to leverage the new-for-2021 Aston Martin F1 team. The official word is, “Mid-engined cars are a core part of Aston Martin Lagonda’s future.”
Meanwhile, to save engineering cost elsewhere, the Lagonda electric SUV has been delayed by at least three years to 2025. And the EV version of the Rapide is put in cryogenic suspension.
Bringing astounding Le Mans level performance to the road, the Valkyrie finally starts arriving with buyers late this year. It’s delayed, yes, but that’s actually less about finances than fully sorting this rocket’s bleeding-edge technology. Just ask the Mercedes-AMG One people, equally late.
Next, the Valhalla. It was due in 2021, but that’s now 2022. Orders have been OK if not tearaway: the edition of 500 isn’t fully spoken for. It uses a 1,000bhpish hybrid twin-turbo V6 powertrain. The engine itself is designed in-house, to suit electrification, so put out of your head the idea it’s just half the existing front-mounted V12. The Valhalla’s tub is carbon fibre, like the Valkyrie’s.
Finally, in last year’s Geneva midengined trio, the Vanquish concept. It has now been put back to 2023. It justifies the existence of the hybrid V6, but with less power than the Valhalla. It’ll still need a lot of poke, mind, if not to wilt in the face of McLaren’s Super Series and whatever Ferrari will be fielding as a mid-life upgrade to the F8 Tributo. They too will have hybrid V6s, btw. Like the Ferrari, the Valhalla is bonded aluminium. Expect a convertible, and a hardcore AMR Pro.
Among the front-engined Astons, after the DBS GT Zagato and the Goldfinger Continuation DB5, the next mega-priced limited edition is the 88-unit V12 Speedster. The ‘volume’ Aston, the
V8 Vantage, has been selling like slightly tepid cakes, but should be given a fillip by this spring’s Roadster version.
To make it all happen, a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll (including JCB industrialist Lord Anthony Bamford) has invested £182 million, with existing shareholders adding £318m, so that’s £500m of long-term money. Stroll becomes executive chair of Aston. He expresses confidence in Andy Palmer as CEO, hence the new plan’s resemblance to the former plan. Building long-term buyer trust in a car brand demands consistency. As long as it’s working.