Discussion
Adrian Hallmark is inbound as the new CEO having resigned as Chairman of Bentley this morning.
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&a...
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&a...
ThomW said:
Excellent news, he did wonders for Bentley.
Did you see this? https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-britishcars/v8...The Bentley we owned alongside the Astons did not give a great ownership experience either (not to mention being extremely expensive to run in comparison).
When I read this the first question I asked myself was "Why?" He's already Chairman and CEO of a premium brand and now he's going to be Lawrence's bag carrier? The only difference career-wise I can see is that he'll be CEO of a plc, rather than of a subsidiary.
Unless, of course, that notoriously benign and forgiving organisation Volkswagen AG and the pussycat Porsche-Piech family are not happy with Bentley's current performance?
Corrected spelling of Lawrence's name; I can't do anything to hide my embarrassment by any quotes made ante hoc
Unless, of course, that notoriously benign and forgiving organisation Volkswagen AG and the pussycat Porsche-Piech family are not happy with Bentley's current performance?
Corrected spelling of Lawrence's name; I can't do anything to hide my embarrassment by any quotes made ante hoc
Edited by LTP on Friday 22 March 11:36
LTP said:
When I read this the first question I asked myself was "Why?" He's already Chairman and CEO of a premium brand and now he's going to be Laurence's bag carrier? The only difference career-wise I can see is that he'll be CEO of a plc, rather than of a subsidiary.
Unless, of course, that notoriously benign and forgiving organisation Volkswagen AG and the pussycat Porsche-Piech family are not happy with Bentley's current performance?
I thought the same when I read it LTP. Seems a strange move to me. I’m sure he’s well respected in his field and has a proven track record but it’s surely not that difficult a job when you have the resources of VW etc behind you. It will be very different at AML. But I wish him well and I wish him good luck. He will definitely need it working for LS! Unless, of course, that notoriously benign and forgiving organisation Volkswagen AG and the pussycat Porsche-Piech family are not happy with Bentley's current performance?
BRM.
ETA this is the PH news story in case anyone missed it.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Edited by Minglar on Friday 22 March 11:02
The man who was largely responsible for the Continental GT -- for Bentley becoming a car based on a shared platform and engine, i.e., not really a Bentley to me (yes, I know Bentleys have been R-Rs since 1931) -- is going to be Aston's new CEO. Bentley's financial success shows he knows how to make money, which Aston needs, but he did it by making "Bentleys" that aren't -- they're really VW/Audis underneath. Also, he was CEO when Bentley decided to become an all-EV brand... Massively discouraging for this Aston owner for whom using someone else's engine is a complete deal-breaker. The slippery slope is getting steeper. How long until an "Aston Martin" is just a rebadged Benz? And no, that would not be Aston "surviving." I hope I'm wrong.
I was (quite bizarrely) loaned a brand new Bentley Azure Hybrid as a courtesy car, last year, whilst my DB11 was gettting a little work done.
I'm afraid I wasn't all that impressed. The car felt very slow, even in Sport mode. The driver's side footwell was cramped with access to seat controls crushing your hand, the sat nav was really poor (and frustratingly added around an hour to the trip back to the dealership!) and the much-lauded high-quality interior was certainly beautiful from a distance, but up-close I felt material quality wasn't as good as it should be for a car of that calibre, with some chromed plastic controls and lower quality leathers in places. The massage seats were nice!
I'm being a little picky and it was certainly interesting to knock around in for two weeks, but I was relieved to hand it back. That said, I'm sure that the Continental would be much more driver focussed.
I'm afraid I wasn't all that impressed. The car felt very slow, even in Sport mode. The driver's side footwell was cramped with access to seat controls crushing your hand, the sat nav was really poor (and frustratingly added around an hour to the trip back to the dealership!) and the much-lauded high-quality interior was certainly beautiful from a distance, but up-close I felt material quality wasn't as good as it should be for a car of that calibre, with some chromed plastic controls and lower quality leathers in places. The massage seats were nice!
I'm being a little picky and it was certainly interesting to knock around in for two weeks, but I was relieved to hand it back. That said, I'm sure that the Continental would be much more driver focussed.
Peter McKean said:
That said, I'm sure that the Continental would be much more driver focussed.
Ours was the previous gen. Felt heavy and solid (not always a bad thing), good comfortable fast cruiser but I wouldn’t describe it as driver focused. If I had to drive to the south of France, the Conti would win over the Aston, mainly for comfort. Road trips where you want more of a drive, or sense of occasion, it wouldn’t.
I always saw Bentley as one end of the spectrum, focused on comfort, with Ferrari/McLaren at the other focussed on performance, with AM occupying an agreeable middle ground. Owning one for a couple of years reinforced that view.
More gremlins than the Astons and pretty poor customer service caused it to go.
Well, it seems that the new CEO has had some problems with fulfilling sales figures too…
https://www.carscoops.com/2024/01/roughly-75-of-al...
https://www.carscoops.com/2024/01/roughly-75-of-al...
Maybe I’m missing something but isn’t Aston’s strategy essentially identical to Bentley’s: take somebody else’s kit and turn it into a British luxury vehicle? If he succeeded in doing it in Bentley, then rinse & repeat over at Aston. A Ferrari guy would not have been the right fit for this other than the enviable market position. Ferrari is all about bottom up innovation and totally unique IP, right? Aston is about tweaking to create something that looks and feels unique.
The Chairman of AML does appear publicly to be very dominant, eg. making most of the AML corporate statements.
Usually the main role of a plc Chairman, is to be responsible for the composition of the board of directors.
We sometimes got the impression, that Mr. Felisa was just wheeled out, to emphasise what Mr. Strolll had already told us.
Perhaps LS considers that being Chairman and also having a significant shareholding, makes his a different job.
Do we think Mr. Hallmark will be given freedom to make his own decisions as CEO ? I hope so.
https://karenable.com/aston-martin-ceo4/
Not much in there we don’t already know but as Jon39 said I guess it all depends on the level of interference from LS going forward. BRM.
Not much in there we don’t already know but as Jon39 said I guess it all depends on the level of interference from LS going forward. BRM.
LooneyTunes said:
The Bentley we owned alongside the Astons did not give a great ownership experience either (not to mention being extremely expensive to run in comparison).
I had a GTC and V12 Vanquish - both brand new. I thought the Vanquish was a beautiful car, but the Bentley was superior in every other way. But maybe an unfair comparison as these were both the launch models some years ago.I'd still prefer a Bentley over an Aston based on that experience though.
NDA said:
LooneyTunes said:
The Bentley we owned alongside the Astons did not give a great ownership experience either (not to mention being extremely expensive to run in comparison).
I had a GTC and V12 Vanquish - both brand new. I thought the Vanquish was a beautiful car, but the Bentley was superior in every other way. But maybe an unfair comparison as these were both the launch models some years ago.I'd still prefer a Bentley over an Aston based on that experience though.
DMZ said:
Maybe I’m missing something but isn’t Aston’s strategy essentially identical to Bentley’s: take somebody else’s kit and turn it into a British luxury vehicle? If he succeeded in doing it in Bentley, then rinse & repeat over at Aston. A Ferrari guy would not have been the right fit for this other than the enviable market position. Ferrari is all about bottom up innovation and totally unique IP, right? Aston is about tweaking to create something that looks and feels unique.
Yes. You are missing something. Carry on. Zio Di Roma said:
I've not studied the financials of Bentley pre-Hallmark and AML today, but would Bentley have been in a stronger financial position?
Apples and oranges. Bentley have been part of a large, (relatively) benign, automotive group with amazing facilities and an extensive parts bin, as well as "centres of excellence" distributed throughout the group to avoid duplication of core R&D ever since BMW and VW fought over the emaciated near-corpses that Vickers plc had presided over; Aston is a small independent car manufacturer, subject to the whims of the stock market and its analysts.If only a large, progressive multi-national automotive manufacturer wanted to create a stable of premium brands to supplement its mid-market image.
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