We'd got rather used to positive Aston Martin news recently, what with the
Cygnet's demise
and the arrival of exciting products such as the
V12 Vantage S
But the jolly mood has been subdued rather by Autocar's news that Aston recorded a £24.9m loss in 2012. You can read the full story on it here, but a predictably large portion of the blame has been attributed to the recession. Aston has also rather ambiguously stated its revenues were affected by 'vehicle launches in the fourth quarter [of 2012]'.
It's therefore unclear whether this means Aston's own launches (see the Vanquish in November 2012) or those of its rivals; the Bentley Continental GT Speed, for example, arrived in October last year.
Either way, the news is rather disappointing, and hopefully a situation that can be rectified through the AMG collaboration. Read more about the German side of that deal in our interview with outgoing AMG boss Ola Kallenius. On a more positive note, Dan is driving the V12 Vantage S and the Vanquish Volante next week. In America. What was that about expensive vehicle launches?