Monday 9th October 2023

Aston Martin gets £9m government EV boost

Cash injection will go towards projects aimed at making EVs lighter - fingers crossed...

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Aston Martin will have a year of two halves in 2025. It’ll launch what’s set to be its loudest model ever , with the Cosworth V12-engined Valkyrie Le Mans car, which will be joined by its quietest offering to date – and one that you’ll actually be able to buy – with the marque set to release its first all-electric vehicle the same year. The latter has now been boosted thanks to a £9 million cash injection from the UK government that’ll go towards the firm’s EV efforts.

The grant seems like a drop in the ocean when factoring in the £2 billion the marque has set aside for ‘future technologies’ over the next five years, which will see the firm move from combustion to electric power, but the company says the cash boost will bolster the development of a new, 800V modular electric platform that will underpin its maiden EV. Specifically, it’ll fund staff training on electrification, see the implementation of a digital toolchain and, crucially, projects that’ll focus on light weight vehicle construction – which has been an issue for EVs since day dot.

“The award of funding from the APC (Advanced Propulsion Centre UK) is another major boost to our electrification strategy and constant strive for innovation. Providing further resources to explore the possibilities of our bespoke BEV platform, it will help achieve our ambition to be an in-house BEV technology leader in the ultra-luxury, high-performance segment”, said Aston Martin chief technical officer Roberto Fedeli.

Quite what Aston Martin has up its sleeve isn’t known yet. A few months ago, the company announced it had signed an electric powertrains partnership with American EV car maker Lucid, and that its new platform would serve as the underpinnings for everything from hypercars to SUVs. The latter is expected to come first in 2025, with the teaser image above clearly showing the outline of the DBX. Which would make sense, really, but if you fancy one with V8 power, look no further than this F1-inspired DBX707...

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• Aston confirms V12 Valkyrie for Le Mans 24hr
• 2022 Aston Martin DBX707 | UK Review

[smilo996]

Don't build SUV's. Bank details on the way.

[J4CKO]

Am I missing something but a luxury car firm gets nine million quid of taxpayers cash ?

Suppose they employ folk, make stuff for export, pay taxes etc but does seem a little strange in these days of being told there is no money about ?

[Gecko1978]

J4CKO said:

Am I missing something but a luxury car firm gets nine million quid of taxpayers cash ?

Suppose they employ folk, make stuff for export, pay taxes etc but does seem a little strange in these days of being told there is no money about ?

Agree and its not a British firm either

[Wheel Turned Out]

Have to agree with the sentiment - a Govt. cash injection towards the creation of vehicles that will almost certainly not retail under £100k seems somewhat incongruous.

[minimonte03]

J4CKO said:

Am I missing something but a luxury car firm gets nine million quid of taxpayers cash ?

Suppose they employ folk, make stuff for export, pay taxes etc but does seem a little strange in these days of being told there is no money about ?

Was just going to post but J4CKO hit the nail on the head. Our money for the wealthy few!

[nismo48]

minimonte03 said:

J4CKO said:

Am I missing something but a luxury car firm gets nine million quid of taxpayers cash ?

Suppose they employ folk, make stuff for export, pay taxes etc but does seem a little strange in these days of being told there is no money about ?

Was just going to post but J4CKO hit the nail on the head. Our money for the wealthy few!

+1

[Wab1974uk]

Why is the Government giving £9m of tax payers cash to a private company?

EV's will only get lighter when battery tech gets better. Until then they won't.

Plus, just how far will £9m actually go? They probably spend more than on dashboard design.

[jameswills]

Why not just build lightweight petrol turbos? You’re not going to do it with EVs, you just aren’t.

[D4rez]

jameswills said:

Why not just build lightweight petrol turbos? You’re not going to do it with EVs, you just aren’t.

Do what?

[Cold]

BMW MINI had an "incentive" of £75m just a few weeks ago to keep production at Oxford. Spending taxpayers money on supporting British jobs isn't a new idea.

[theicemario]

“Makings EVs lighter”

Inserts SUV image



In other news, a British car manufacturer is handed an incentive worth 0.56% of what the taxpayer is stomping out for some foreign company to operate refugee barges

[andy43]

Wab1974uk said:

Why is the Government giving £9m of tax payers cash to a private company?

EV's will only get lighter when battery tech gets better. Until then they won't.

Plus, just how far will £9m actually go? They probably spend more than on dashboard design.

Have you seen their dashboards? 9 million on crayons is pushing it.

[tr3a]

DriveSnowdonia said:

D4rez said:

jameswills said:

Why not just build lightweight petrol turbos? You’re not going to do it with EVs, you just aren’t.

Do what?

Save the planet

The planet will be fine. It's what's living on it that should worry.

[Justin-ow582]

It's Rishi's form of trickledown economics.
Eventually, at a time just before it's ready for the scrapyard, an Aston will be affordable for the average household (if you ignore running costs).

[Motormatt]

AM are already selling SUVs that weigh 2245kg without a care in the world, all of a sudden weight is such a big problem that they need £9m of taxpayers money to help make their next ultra luxury SUV weigh slightly less than the moon?

[CraigyMc]

J4CKO said:

Am I missing something but a luxury car firm gets nine million quid of taxpayers cash ?

Suppose they employ folk, make stuff for export, pay taxes etc but does seem a little strange in these days of being told there is no money about ?

£9m will probably offset a fraction of their catering budget.

[Wills2]

£9 million? They lost more than that per week in 2022, the amount of money is trivial compared to the costs involved and we shouldn't be funding PLCs that are backed by Saudi money and billionaires with tax payers money.

[JJJ.]

9million,eh? Obviously, it's not what you do or what you make but more a case of who you know. Call me cynical. Now, if the money was given to a British specialist EV research company or some such I wouldn't bat an eyelid. It will interesting to see who else gets grants/subsidies/free money over the remaining lifetime of this Government.

[Nersha]

£9m? That could pay for 1 days worth of hotels for people who have crossed the channel illegally. Shocking it’s being used in a way that could support British jobs rather than our future doctors and engineers.

[AKjr]

Cold said:

BMW MINI had an "incentive" of £75m just a few weeks ago to keep production at Oxford. Spending taxpayers money on supporting British jobs isn't a new idea.

How many jobs is this supporting? It's chicken feed in the grand scheme, they lost more than nine million quid a week last year....