Moneypenny wants to take the wheel
James Bond’s carmaker of choice, Aston Martin, took a first step into the lucrative SUV market this week with an eye on winning female customers.
Globally about 10% of its customers are women, but the proportion is 50% in China, where the firm launched its SUV, the DBX.
“That [proportion] is something we aspire to elsewhere,” says CEO Andy Palmer. “Aston is cool but if you can make it cool amongst both male and female, that makes it very, very powerful.”
Aston is trying hard to turn around its performance, and winning new customers will be key to its success. Its share price has plunged this year as sales underperformed after a stock market flotation, and the global automotive industry has had a torrid year.
The profile of its target customer for its first SUV is a 40-something US west coast entrepreneur with children, called “Charlotte”.
The firm used an allfemale panel to help design many of the features in the new vehicle.