Mercedes to take 20 per cent stake in Aston Martin
New deal cements partnership with 'expanded and enhanced technology agreement'
Aston Martin will gain access to the full suite of Mercedes powertrain technology thanks to an upgraded strategic agreement, confirmed today by executive chairman, Lawrence Stroll. The British company, now headed by former AMG boss Tobias Moers, will give Mercedes up to 20 per cent equity stake in exchange, as well as appointing one of its non-executive directors to the board. The company intends for the changes to put it on a path to produce 10,000 cars and generate a £2 billion revenue by 2025.
Speaking to the new deal, Stroll said: "Today, we take another major step forward as our long-term partnership with Mercedes-Benz AG moves to another level with them becoming one of the company's largest shareholders. Through this new expanded agreement, we secure access to world-class technologies to support our long-term product expansion plans, including electric and hybrid powertrains and this partnership underpins our confidence in the future."
Aston Martin's "fundamental reset" has seen it offer 20 per cent of existing equity capital to see out this year's challenging market conditions, while ensuring that the Vantage Roadster launched and the all-important DBX achieved production status. Stroll has already helped AM raise $536m in equity, and confirmed the creation of a Formula 1 team (where Vettel's headed) for 2021.
"We already have a successful technology partnership in place with Aston Martin that has benefited both companies. With this new expanded partnership, we will be able to provide Aston Martin with access to new cutting-edge powertrain and software technologies and components, including next generation hybrid and electric drive systems," commented Wolf-Dieter Kurz, Head of Product Strategy at Mercedes.
"Access to this technology and these components will be provided in exchange for new shares in Aston Martin. These new shares will be issued to us in several stages, taking our shareholding up to a maximum of no more than 20.0% of the common equity. The supply arrangements for these new technologies will be on commercial terms. We look forward to continuing to work together with Aston Martin and we wish the company every success in its next stage of growth."
Moer's involvement was not doubt crucial to the process, and the firm believes it can now reduce its investment into the costly, complex world of new powertrain tech. Earlier this year, the company killed off its electric programme to save costs; with the new deal, it can utilise the electric and hybrid architecture developed by Mercedes. Plainly the next generation of Aston Martin cars will inherit a significant portion of of its components.
"I am very excited to have joined the business to lead this transformation. I am incredibly impressed by the great work that has been delivered by the whole team here at Aston Martin. For DBX, the brand's first SUV, the team at St Athan has followed a quality-led ramp-up as appropriate for our luxury product positioning and we are now delivering to meet customer demand," remarked Aston's new CEO.
"Today's expansion of our partnership with Mercedes-Benz AG is a critical step towards achieving our goals for Aston Martin. The capabilities of Mercedes-Benz AG technology will be fundamental to ensure our future products remain competitive and will allow us to invest efficiently in the areas that truly differentiate our products. We have great ambitions for Aston Martin and I look forward to keeping you updated on our overall progress."
I find it hard to believe he wouldn't have known about the deal all along when he bought shares in the rights issue. No way any Chinese wall would have worked in those circles and where he is connected.
I find it hard to believe he wouldn't have known about the deal all along when he bought shares in the rights issue. No way any Chinese wall would have worked in those circles and where he is connected.
Toto's investment also seems fortuitous...
Mercedes aren't paying Aston for a stake, Aston want to guarantee a relationship with Mercedes and are offering a free stake in return for the savings on R&D and getting 'mates rates' on Mercedes parts and jumping onto any 3rd party agreements Mercedes can make using their scale to negotiate better terms than Aston could.
AMG and Aston working together on performance SUV's could also be of benefit to both seeing as Aston have managed to make the DBX.
Mercedes aren't paying Aston for a stake, Aston want to guarantee a relationship with Mercedes and are offering a free stake in return for the savings on R&D and getting 'mates rates' on Mercedes parts and jumping onto any 3rd party agreements Mercedes can make using their scale to negotiate better terms than Aston could.
AMG and Aston working together on performance SUV's could also be of benefit to both seeing as Aston have managed to make the DBX.
Will be interesting to see what effect this has on Aston's expansion plans too, particularly the Valhalla- the 12C and McLaren's plans for a road car business are allegedly what initiated the split between Mercedes and McLaren, so it'll be interesting to see how they feel about holding a stake in another British company with aspirations to build mid-engined supercars.
Hope this doesn’t scupper plans for AM to build their own V8 and V6 from the already developed V12.
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