A bold new era for Aston Martin cars
ASTON Martin, British maker of the famous sports cars featuring in James Bond films, is diversifying into yachts, apartments and handbags.
A new store in London’s upmarket Mayfair shopping district, which includes a Louis Vuitton megastore, is Aston Martin’s biggest effort to date to establish the brand as a purveyor of all things luxury and not just slinky performance cars.
While the shop at 8 Dover Street offers ornamental bowls, £3 000 (about R58 000) baby strollers and £1 100 weekend bags, Aston Martin’s ambitions go far beyond that.
“Wouldn’t it be great if you’re down in a luxury harbour somewhere staying in an Aston Martin apartment, with your Aston Martin parked in the car park, and your Aston Martin boat harbored outside,” CEO Andy Palmer said in an interview at the shop opening on Thursday.
While expanding the Aston Martin brand beyond cars such as its flagship DB11 risks muddying its image, one of the few independent manufacturers of luxury cars may have little choice.
Even with the addition of the DBX crossover by the end of the decade, demand for pricey vehicles is limited by the need to defend exclusivity. Also, markets such as China show little interest in sports cars. That puts pressure on Aston Martin to seek new revenue streams to return to profit by 2018 and prepare for an eventual initial public offering. Other luxury brands moving beyond traditional niches include Fendi, into hotels, and Swiss watchmaker Hublot into skis.
Meanwhile, Ferrari, which also wants to compete with the likes of Hermès and Prada, has struggled to make headway as upscale merchandise collides with the need to serve fans of its Formula One racing team with affordable gear.
At Aston Martin’s new shop, “you don’t see too many baseball caps”, Palmer said. “There is clearly a place for fans of the brand — they go into our dealer and they buy a T-shirt and that’s fine. But this is an expression of what Aston stands for.”
Amid flat demand in China, the UK’s decision to exit the EU has served as an unexpected windfall, as the drop in the pound increases the value of Aston Martin’s sales outside its home country.
“Brexit is helping, genuinely helping right now,” Palmer said. “Whether it helps in the two years from now when we actually make an exit — if that’s when it is — I don’t know, but right now the weak pound is wonderful.”
Aston Martin, which sells just 15% of its cars to EU consumers, is hoping new trade deals with China, the US and India will bolster its prospects in those countries.
To that end, the new shop front is aimed at shoring up the brand, which will deliver its first yacht in September, as wealthy visitors swing through the elite London district. — Bloomberg
Brexit is genuinely helping right now. The weak pound is wonderful