Can Aston Martin Survive in the Electric Vehicle Era?

[Jon39]

Reuters has an interesting article about EVs and hybrids.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportat...

It appears that hybrids are being heavily promoted in the domestic Chinese market, as local demand for pure EVs slows.
Western car manufacturers are anxious about the arrival of many Chinese brands, which are gradually entering western markets with lower electric price cars.

[Import]

Interesting read..thanks for posting..

[Calinours]

To answer the question?

Yes. Why not? Customers will always want to differentiate. Folks with cash will want something better, more luxurious, more bespoke, higher quality than the proletariat. It applies to every consumer product, even though cars have always been slightly more of a differentiation symbol than the norm - not an extreme outlier though, look at watches for that…..

As someone said, why do Miele make a washing machine for £1500 when anyone can buy a Beko for £200?

I can easily see a time where customers will be able to buy their gold plated electric Aston making an authentic V12 noise, using the best materials (leather, stainless steel, alloy components (as opposed to plastic) etc will always be expensive and thus a differentiator. It will be a rebadged, rebodied and seriously tarted up Lucid. Think of the Cygnet, but electric powered, and the size of a DB9, and producing very clever fake noises. Driving it yourself will, if you are lucky, be optional.

[Simpo Two]

A common question that arises on the subject of EVs is 'What happens when the batteries get old? Can they be replaced?'

Yes they can, and this is how to do it:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1038592960815756


(sorry I can't find it on YouTube)

[Jon39]

Simpo Two said:

A common question that arises on the subject of EVs is 'What happens when the batteries get old? Can they be replaced?'

Yes they can, and this is how to do it:

Thank you John.
I was confused at first. It seemed to be an image and not a video.
I then pressed the wrong button.





After that little excursion, I eventually discovered the need to first press Pause, then press Play.

[Simpo Two]

Strange, for me it plays the video as soon as the link loads. Are you using mobile telephonical apparatus?

[Ghini]

https://europe.autonews.com/move/ex-ferrari-and-ri...

The brand appointed ex-Rimac executive Paul Thomas to the newly created position of BEV Chief Engineer, which also covers plug-in hybrid vehicles. Aston Martin will start deliveries of the Valhalla plug-in hybrid supercar next year ahead of the promised full-electric car in 2025.

Thomas was chief technology officer for the Croatian EV specialist Rimac between November 2020 and February 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile, before moving to founder Mate Rimac’s robotaxi company Project 3 Mobility.

Prior to that Thomas worked at Tesla between 2014 and 2020 as a senior manager of vehicle engineering.

Thomas’s appointment marks a homecoming for the British national, who worked at Aston Martin for 16 years before Tesla.

[Jon39]

Simpo Two said:

Strange, for me it plays the video as soon as the link loads. Are you using mobile telephonical apparatus?

No. Android tablet.
Some tech knowledge is useful to get around such difficulties.

Speaking of that, are you into this website.

https://archive.li/

Wonderful for nipping behind paywalls, such as quality newspapers.
Paste a URL into the black box.
If the page has not already been archived, then activate the red box and wait while the archiving takes place.

[LTP]

Jon39 said:

Speaking of that, are you into this website.

https://archive.li/

Wonderful for nipping behind paywalls, such as quality newspapers.
Paste a URL into the black box.
If the page has not already been archived, then activate the red box and wait while the archiving takes place.

Doesn't load for me Jon, on PC in either Edge or Firefox. Sure that URL is correct?

[Simpo Two]

Jon39 said:

No. Android tablet.

Well that's basically a phone Maybe an Android thing.

Jon39 said:

Speaking of that, are you into this website.

https://archive.li/

Wonderful for nipping behind paywalls, such as quality newspapers.

Thanks - does it work for those sites that say 'We see you're using an adblocker'?

[Jon39]

Simpo Two said:

Thanks - does it work for those sites that say, 'We see you're using an adblocker'?

I guess so, but you can find out by trying it on a site which has previously stopped you.

The are a few sites that have overcome it, might include The Times and Bloomberg.
Think The Financial Times works OK.


EDIT
Sunday Times OK.

Edited by Jon39 on Wednesday 29th November 18:48

[Jon39]

Will these eventually become DBX Electric competition, from beyond the horizon?
They seem to claim huge ranges, now incorporate many luxury features and are quoting low prices.

Are there concerns in the West, that these products will be sold initially at artificially low prices, to quickly gain market share and disrupt the competitors?

[AstonV]

NOBODY WANTS THEM!

[Jon39]

AstonV said:

NOBODY WANTS THEM!

I cannot see your video, Andy.
Not sure why.

I don't know whether Chinese cars are for sale yet in the US, but in the UK they have been represented for some time by the famous British brand MG.
In a very shrewed move, the Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor, bought the name MG. Their cars have nothing to do with the historic MG brand, but just the name has been enough to help them with marketing and brand recognition in the UK. This year their sales have increased by 57%. They will soon be selling more cars here than Mercedes-Benz and are already ahead of Skoda, Land Rover, Peugeot, Tesla, Volvo, Mini and Renault.

Cheap, or as the car makers advertise 'affordable' new cars, certainly attract customers here. We saw that first with Dacia, who in spite of becoming the butt of jokes on the Top Gear TV show, now sell more cars in the UK than Honda and Fiat. Dacia is now owned by Renault.

BYD and GWM ORA, have both started to sell their low cost EVs in Britain this year.

Unfortunately, this all makes me think about the arrival of Japanese motor cycles in the UK. Their sales pitch did not involve price, but modern design, self starters, indicators, etc..
The British motorcycle manufacturing industry collapsed.

[dbs2000]

Jon39 said:

Will these eventually become DBX Electric competition, from beyond the horizon?
They seem to claim huge ranges, now incorporate many luxury features and are quoting low prices.

Are there concerns in the West, that these products will be sold initially at artificially low prices, to quickly gain market share and disrupt the competitors?

I attended Fully Charged Live at the weekend in Amsterdam. I thought the Zeeker and Nios were pretty badly made, the NIO ET5 had a great side profile but the interior felt poor compared to the Tesla (which feels poort when comapred to the new Model 3 Highland refresh) The BYD seal was a decent looking car. If I were to move from Tesla, I still think Audi, Porsche or Kia would be getting my money.

ET5:


There is no doubt though, quality issues aside, the Chinese cars have huge specs for the prices.

Edited by dbs2000 on Monday 4th December 10:53

[Jon39]

dbs2000 said:

I attended Fully Charged Live at the weekend in Amsterdam. I thought the Zeeker and Nios were pretty badly made, the NIO ET5 had a great side profile but the interior felt poor compared to the Tesla (which feels poort when comapred to the new Model 3 Highland refresh) The BYD seal was a decent looking car. If I were to move from Tesla, I still think Audi, Porsche or Kia would be getting my money.

There is no doubt though, quality issues aside, the Chinese cars have huge specs for the prices.

Thank you for your interesting comments, David.

I hear that your country has a new Prime Minister.
Seems that the EU might be a touch worried.
Looking at his appearance, I was reminded of someone. -








Mr Verstappen might have considerable support. Perhaps he should have stood for election.

[AstonV]

Jon39 said:

I cannot see your video, Andy.
Not sure why.

I don't know whether Chinese cars are for sale yet in the US, but in the UK they have been represented for some time by the famous British brand MG.
In a very shrewed move, the Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor, bought the name MG. Their cars have nothing to do with the historic MG brand, but just the name has been enough to help them with marketing and brand recognition in the UK. This year their sales have increased by 57%. They will soon be selling more cars here than Mercedes-Benz and are already ahead of Skoda, Land Rover, Peugeot, Tesla, Volvo, Mini and Renault.

Cheap, or as the car makers advertise 'affordable' new cars, certainly attract customers here. We saw that first with Dacia, who in spite of becoming the butt of jokes on the Top Gear TV show, now sell more cars in the UK than Honda and Fiat. Dacia is now owned by Renault.

BYD and GWM ORA, have both started to sell their low cost EVs in Britain this year.

Unfortunately, this all makes me think about the arrival of Japanese motor cycles in the UK. Their sales pitch did not involve price, but modern design, self starters, indicators, etc..
The British motorcycle manufacturing industry collapsed.

I don't know if this is any better. US auto dealers have more that 12 months supply of EV's on the ground. No one is buying them, the infrastructure for charging is not there, they are expensive with limited range. They will all end up in land fills someday.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/more-than-300...

[Simpo Two]

Jon39 said:

BYD and GWM ORA, have both started to sell their low cost EVs in Britain this year.

I may have posted this before but I first saw an Ora 'Funky Cat' in the summer and to my surprise quite liked it; colour makes a difference and Aurora Green works for me.

However I also liked this model: https://gwmora.co.uk/nextgwmora/



It's OK, I'll see myself out

[Jon39]

AstonV said:

I don't know if this is any better. US auto dealers have more that 12 months supply of EV's on the ground. No one is buying them, the infrastructure for charging is not there, they are expensive with limited range. They will all end up in land fills someday.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/more-than-300...

This might be the video that you were referring to.
It includes the owner of a US Mercedes-Benz dealer, who possibly revealed more than M-B might have wanted.
Interesting, but it all confirms the opinions which have been expressed on this topic for some time.
In the UK we have recently heard about huge increases in EV insurance premiums. One more thing adding to a number of drawbacks.

https://youtu.be/cZlsZwcIgpc?si=XC1sXG1lsnlg7Hrg

[Beckson]

you can get some killer deals on Kia EV6s, Hyundai ioniqs, Ford Mach-e's in the US atm. For the right price I'd take one as a third vehicle to run around/ commute in. To really utilize one propery, you need to commute and then be able to charge at home over night. Personally a hybrid makes more sense if I could just have one car. Hybrid toyota RAV4, highlanders, Kia Sportages/sorrentos, Hyundai sante fe's/ Tuscons, and honda crv hybrids sell pretty well in the US.