Iconic car can’t get going

Any luxury car manufacturer is used to focusing on speed, but the problem for Aston Martin is that the buzz is less about the acceleration of its Valkyrie hypercar and more about the astonishing rate at which it is burning through cash.

Somewhat alarmingly for a company that has gone bust an impressive six times in its career, it has announced its fifth visit to the fundraising pump since Lawrence Stroll took over as chair and primary shareholder in 2020, so now £1.5bn has been poured in its general direction in a mere three years.

The latest fundraising sees Hangzhou’s leading manufacturer, Geely, chuck in £234m to take its stake up to 17% and become that company’s third-biggest shareholder behind Stroll and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Geely may not be dripping with glamour, but it has form in rescuing Volvo from the doldrums over the past decade and collaborating with the Swedes to develop a number of more than credible electric vehicles under their jointly owned Polestar brand.

However, £140m of Geely’s £234m will go straight to Stroll’s Yew Tree investment vehicle to enable it to reduce its holding, hardly a ringing vote of confidence in the company’s future.

Despite the torrent of money flowing in, Aston Martin is still saddled with £870m of debt, which cost £140m to service last year, at a time when it will need to invest proper money to fund the electric future that it has committed to. Having lost £495m in 2022, the company’s future is looking wobbly to say the least, and Geely may well have to dig deeper.