RE: Aston Martin's new boss

RE: Aston Martin's new boss

Tuesday 2nd September 2014

Aston Martin's new boss

Andy Palmer leaves Nissan to take up the top job at Aston Martin



We received a welcome piece of industry news this morning with the announcement that Aston Martin has filled its long-vacant CEO position with high-flying British executive Andy Palmer.

It's welcome because Palmer, who moves from his extremely senior position as Nissan's global No2, looks to be just the man to safely steer the British sports car maker through what are pretty dark and indebted times while it works on a brand-new platform.

Guilty of leaning on past glories? Possibly...
Guilty of leaning on past glories? Possibly...
You might wonder what a man expert at shifting cut-price SUVs can bring to a company making some of the bluest-blood GTs on the planet, but having met Palmer on a number of occasions over the last few years, we can attest to two important things: one, he's a massive petrolhead; and two, he's an expert at forging the sort of partnerships that Aston Martin so keenly needs to stay relevant and up-to-date in a market where being independent is more a handicap than a plus point.

Aston Martin has already moved in that direction after teaming up with Daimler to take delivery of AMG engines for its new models, likely to be the recently announced 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8.

Palmer will be easily be able to cement and maybe even build on this relationship using his past experience partnering Nissan's upmarket Infiniti brand with Daimler. So much so the two companies are now working on a new small car platform together. It's tempting to bemoan Aston ceding its independence to the German giant, but access to Daimler's tech and know-how will be key to keeping the cars relevant, and also introducing models such as the oft-suggested SUV, a niche that has energized other low-volume sports makers.

Palmer dispels the long-held belief that car-making Brits are great at engineering but inept at management. He rose through the ranks of Nissan after moving from Rover in 1991 and demonstrated he could persuade people to buy Nissan products the world over. He's a marketeer basically, but a brilliant one and that clear idea what draws customers into showrooms will be invaluable here.

Range is refreshed but there's serious work to do
Range is refreshed but there's serious work to do
Palmer's main drawback compared to his predecessor, Ulrich Bez, is that many of Bez's previous roles involved creating cars that sat in a similar arena to the Astons. In an interview with PistonHeads earlier this year, he revealed he keeps zero-mileage examples of some of those, including a BMW Z1 and a Porsche 993 911. Okay, he came from Daewoo to lead Aston Martin, but Palmer has to quickly bring himself up to speed.

Helping that is a love of fast cars. Palmer has taken a keen interest in the performance side of Nissan and was instrumental in taking the company back to Le Mans, first with the experimental DeltaWing and related ZEOD racers, and next year with an LMP1 hybrid to take on the likes of Porsche and Audi. As much as it's tempting to wish for Aston to build NA V12 cars for ever, Palmer's deep knowledge of battery propulsion will work very well for the Gaydon-based company for any future hybrid models.

Our first thought is that the motivation for Palmer's surprise move was to thumb a nice easy ride to retirement, building lovely cars, occasionally racing them and hob-nobbing with the billionaires at Pebble Beach. But he's comparatively young at just 51 and extremely driven, so it can't be that. We're entirely hopeful that instead he's looking to push the Aston Martin brand and car range to new heights.

 

   
Author
Discussion

Neil_M

Original Poster:

694 posts

183 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
Good news I say.

I thought Aston's sense of direction has been wavering for some time.

A great brand that should be kept going.

corcoran

533 posts

273 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
Please re-write this awful sentence:

"He's a marketeer basically, but a brilliant one and that clear idea what draws customers into showrooms will be invaluable here."

articulatedj

102 posts

120 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
corcoran said:
Please re-write this awful sentence:

"He's a marketeer basically, but a brilliant one and that clear idea what draws customers into showrooms will be invaluable here."
Literally laughed out loud at that.

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
PH said:
Palmer's deep knowledge of battery propulsion
Really? I suspect not. I can't imagine that many CEOs really being battery experts. To be fair, I've met a number of actual battery experts who were/are nothing of the sort ;-)

Foggy748

318 posts

159 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
If Nissan's level of Customer Service is anything to go by, then it's a sad day for Aston Martin. I really do hope I'm proved wrong.

Abbott

2,338 posts

202 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
He is basically an engineer and I would say was one of the key players in bringing Nissan back from the brink of collapse. He went on from that to be one of the handful of Brits who sat at Carlos Ghosns table.

"Mr. Palmer is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He holds a Masters Degree (MSC) in Product Engineering (Warwick University, England), a Diploma in Industrial Management (Coventry University, England) and a Doctorate (PhD) in Management (Cranfield University, England). He is a Member of SAE and a Chartered Manager (Member of Chartered Management Institute).

He is also a Guest Professor at Tokyo University for Agriculture and Technology and in 2010, was conferred an Honorary doctorate of technology (HonDTech) from Coventry University.

Mr. Palmer, who was born in Stratford upon Avon in England, lives in Tokyo and is married with four children. Hobbies include reading and listening to “Punk” rock music and running by necessity."


Jawaman

271 posts

132 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
I (clearly) don't know the man, but I would raise the following:

  • He seems well qualified to pull Aston back to where it should be
  • He has a massive forehead. Perhaps as a result of cramming two doctorates in there amongst everything else?

I WISH

874 posts

199 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
Lets hope he understands the "marketeering" value of things like the iconic shape of the Aston Martin grille.
If the shape of the proposed new Lagonda "saloon" Mazda MX6 lookalike grille is any sort of indicator .... then they're on the slippery slope to oblivion.

And before anyone says "it's a Lagonda not an Aston" ..... just look at the shape of the existing Rapide grille.

sperm

SteveSteveson

3,209 posts

162 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
Abbott said:
Mr. Palmer, ... Hobbies include ... and running by necessity."
Makes him sound like he is not good at industrial relations or he does a bit of shop lifting in is spare time.

P4ROT

1,219 posts

192 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
corcoran said:
Please re-write this awful sentence:

"He's a marketeer basically, but a brilliant one and that clear idea what draws customers into showrooms will be invaluable here."
haha

Interesting times ahead...

oldtimer2

728 posts

132 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
An interesting career move from No2 at Nissan to CEO of Aston Martin. I wish him every success and some good luck (a useful ingredient for CEO success) in turning AM round.

Prawnboy

1,326 posts

146 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
at last i might get a replacement for my cygnet

lamboman100

1,445 posts

120 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
Turning around Aston Martin will be like shooting fish in a barrel.

Just make the cars reliabler and faster and do a token hybrid model and then stick it in a James Bond movie and watch the Pounds roll in.

Amirhussain

11,486 posts

162 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
lamboman100 said:
stick it in a James Bond movie and watch the Pounds roll in.
rofl

DonkeyApple

54,923 posts

168 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
Excellent news. They need to ditch a few more boardroom leeches and move on strongly and focus on the cars and not pensions.

delays

786 posts

214 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
lamboman100 said:
Turning around Aston Martin will be like shooting fish in a barrel.

Just make the cars reliabler and faster and do a token hybrid model and then stick it in a James Bond movie and watch the Pounds roll in.
This. Get the new models right in terms of quality, make them beautiful, get James Bond to do the marketing (as he always has done) and that's it - done.

There's the headache of generating enough cash from limited sales for continued development, but hey, he'll be able to work that one out.

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
"You might wonder what a man expert at shifting cut-price SUVs can bring to a company making some of the bluest-blood GTs on the planet"

It doesn't matter what type of car you're making at his level. Come on PH, you should know it's about the leadership.

Good news.

ETA: Oh my god I've just read THAT sentence "that clear idea what draws customers into showrooms". Anthony Davidson uses "what" like that and it makes my skin crawl.

Edited by RenOHH on Tuesday 2nd September 18:12

lamboman100

1,445 posts

120 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
DonkeyApple said:
Excellent news. They need to ditch a few more boardroom leeches and move on strongly and focus on the cars and not pensions.
Sadly, you may be p***ing into the wind on that one.

Expect a few more years of gravy-training, followed by a juicy bonused sell-off to Nissan-Renault or Mercedes sleep

DonkeyApple

54,923 posts

168 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
lamboman100 said:
DonkeyApple said:
Excellent news. They need to ditch a few more boardroom leeches and move on strongly and focus on the cars and not pensions.
Sadly, you may be p***ing into the wind on that one.

Expect a few more years of gravy-training, followed by a juicy bonused sell-off to Nissan-Renault or Mercedes sleep
It's so depressing to watch a bunch of VC goons milking this company to death. Some companies deserve better than that.

martin elaman

94 posts

126 months

Tuesday 2nd September 2014
quotequote all
Aston should mix the old with the new, unfortunately we will be getting Aston's that are mostly AMG's with pretty bodies. ALL electronic.