Although the Goodwood Revival is meant to be all about the racing, it's also a great chance to catch up with the sort of senior motor industry executives who like getting dressed up and driving old cars. Which is how we managed to grab 10 minutes with Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer.
He was officially there to launch the company's new Assured Provenance programme, which will allow owners of classic Astons to verify the originality of their cars, and hence help to underwrite some of the soaring values of more desirable versions. But we also got a chance to catch up with him about some more modern stuff as well, including the production DBX electric crossover and James Bond's latest ride...
So why are you launching the provenance programme now rather than five years ago?
"The other guys do this really well - the red guys - with their [Ferrari] Classiche programme. If you look at the traction that classic cars are getting now it's Ferrari and us who are really seeing the big gains... For people who are investing we can give some comfort and help those purchases by absolutely guaranteeing the provenance of the car."
Assured Provenance follows Classiche!
Moving onto the modern world - we loved the viral of the Bond car, but how close is it to the next production model?
"It clearly expresses the new design language in some of the vehicles that are coming. I would hint more towards the Vantage type vehicle than the DB. You're going to see cues in there that you'll clearly recognise, you'll see the DNA for sure. But it's not the same - the car was done specifically for Bond. But you will see that predator type look going forwards... The best way I can express it is that my mother will be able to tell the difference. You'll see the relationship like you would with a son or daughter, with DNA evident. But it's not the same."
The Bond car has definitely got a manual 'box, though - is that a 100 per cent commitment for the next Vantage and DB?
"I'm a transmission engineer originally and I'm very keen to always have two extremes, a slick automatic and a very traditional manual. Yes, our intention is that we maintain that. I'd love to be the only manufacturer in our segment with a manual transmission, I might not be able to say that, but I can promise we'll have one."
When we spoke in Geneva you suggested that we'd be seeing the first new generation car next year, is that still the case?
"Yes, it is."
And we'll see a 12-cylinder car first?
"You'll have to wait to find out, but that wouldn't be an unfair assumption. If you planning with a white piece of paper you'd launch your undisputable halo car first, wouldn't you?"
So do you know where you will build the DBX electric crossover yet?
"We will make the decision at the back end of this year, October or November. We will say yes, the only question is where we will make it. And that's depending on our ability on grants and logistic costs. It's about finding the best economic solution to the project, but we will definitely do it."
Will that be another technical collaboration with Daimler?
"In all probability we will use the electrical architecture of Daimler. It's not an absolute given, but that would be a half-reasonable assumption I would say. The question is how much further you go with Daimler and obviously there are various scenarios. My preference right now is that we do an aluminium tub and body in white so that it stays as close to an Aston Martin type architecture as possible."
'DB' heritage obviously very important
And when is the earliest we could see it?
"There's a lot of chatter around it being 2019, and I'm not going to contradict that."
You've said before that we will see two 'special' models like the Vulcan and GT12 a year, will you stick with the same pattern of doing one for road and one as track-only?
"It's a smaller market for track cars, obviously. It's not written down as a policy like that, but if I think two or three years into the future it does kind of appear that way. The cadence seems to be in that direction."
Given how quickly the GT12 sold out would you consider upping production numbers for future specials?
"One of the reasons they sold out is because they've got an end number of them. We could have sold the GT12 two or three times over, but would we have? The fact you have an upper limit of 100 cars was probably the reason it sold out before we launched it. I think that's just a business model we have to live with; people want provenance and putting an ultimate number of cars like this is part of creating that provenance."
Two specials in GT12 style due each year
So what are your volume ambitions once all the new models come out?
"We've got a range of sport cars - let's ignore Rapide, as somewhere that morphs into Lagonda and DBX. So we've got the Vantage, DB9 and Vanquish; those will get replaced imminently, and then you've got DBX. The sports cars will be capped at 7,000 a year, always will be, we won't go past that. DBX and Lagonda is therefore our upside opportunity... That market [for DBX] is probably 4,000-5,000 units, but the honest truth is that nobody knows, until Bentayga launches there's nothing in that space, but then there's going to be a rush - the Lamborghini, the Maserati, the Rolls-Royce, and us. What I would say is that no matter the size of that market we're always going to be at the upper end of it, and if necessary you'd put a cap in there. At the moment I'm assuming around 4,000-5,000 on the crossover side."
And you want to keep engineering and production in the UK?
"Engineering without a doubt. The craftsmanship element of the cars is without doubt. I'd like to say that production is without doubt as well, but I'm a business guy and I've got to be able to fund the programme properly. I hope production of all Aston Martins will stay in the UK, that's all I can say at the moment."
After our interview Aston Martin confirmed what we all knew - namely that the first of its new models will be called the DB11. "I am proud and pleased to confirm that the DB11 nameplate will sit on our next new car," said Palmer in an accompanying press release. "Not only is it a sign of our intention to continue the long line of iconic sports cars that bear the 'DB' moniker - the very bloodline of our brand - but it also shows the world our ambitious plan in action. The coming years will see Aston Martin transform not only its entire range of models but also its scale and global presence, and the new DB11 will be central to that success."
Exciting times ahead then... [DT]
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