Aston Martin prioritise SUV before electric.

[Jon39]

If we can believe these internet figures, Aston Martin appear to have made the right decision.
Their announcement about the electric cars delay, was made at the time of the Lawrence Stroll deal. Wonder if Mr. Stroll made that decision ?

For every 1 electric car sold in the UK, there are 37 SUVs sold.

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PREPARATIONS FOR A NEW TOPIC


ASTON MARTIN IS A UNIQUE AND SPECIAL BUSINESS.
It is possibly the only commercial enterprise which has survived for 106 years, even though rarely making any profit.

The remarkable longevity is due entirely to a long line of people, all of whom had a passion for sports cars and motor racing.
On every occasion that Bamford & Martin subsequently Aston Martin, ran out of money, wealthy backers came to the rescue, enabling the story to continue.

They all presumably began with the dream, that Aston Martin has the potential to become one of the worlds pre-eminent luxury car brands. Unfortunately so far, each one eventually realised that their endeavours were not working. Collectively though, they are all our heroes. Each one passed on what they had achieved and progressively ever more exciting and beautiful sports cars were created.

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The idea of this topic is to compile an easy reference summary, of all the people who provided financial support, or who have rescued Aston Martin.

I will need your help please. Corrections, additions, anecdotes, stories and anything connected which might be of interest.
eg. That rumour I think involving David Brown, where a friend wanted to buy a new Aston Martin at cost price.

		Finance Facilitator or Provider		Period					Background Information
		Lionel Martin's family		1913 to 1920					Lionel's mother was from a wealthy family which had founded Singleton Birch, a company which is still trading today.
		Count Louis Zborowski		1920 to 1924					Count Louis Zborowski was an extremely wealthy man and an accomplished racing driver. Drove for Aston Martin in hillclimbs and races including Brooklands and the French GP. He was killed whilst racing for the Mercedes works team at Monza in 1924.
		Dorothea, Lady Charnwoid		1924 to 1925
		Bill Renwick & Bert Bertelli		1926 to 1932					Dorothea, Lady Charnwood continued as an investor.
		Lance Prideaux Brune		1932 to 1933
		Sir Arthur Sutherland		1933 to 1938
		Sir David Brown		1947 to 1972					After seeing an advertisement in The Times newspaper for a High Class Motor Business £30,000, David Brown purchased the Company for £20,500. It became one of the most successful eras for Aston Martin, with beautiful cars and an outright win at the Le Mans 24 hours race. However in 1972, Sir David is said to have paid the debts of about £5 million, then the Company was sold for £101.
		William Wilson		1972 to 1974					The purchaser was Company Developments, a consortium chaired by William Wilson
		Peter Sprague		1975 to 1981					A group of businessmen purchased the Company from the receiver for £1.05 million.
		Victor Gauntlett & Tim Hearley		1981 to 1991
		Walter Hayes		1991 to 2007					Walter Hayes joined the Ford Motor Company as the head of Ford's UK public relations department, eventually becoming Vice-Chairman of Ford of Europe. Having always been keen to use the association of motor sport for Ford publicity, he persuaded Ford to acquire a shareholding in Aston Martin in 1987. In 1991, Ford took full control by purchasing the remaining shares. Ford paid for the development of the DB7, Vanquush, DB9 and Vantage and also the construction of a new factory at Gaydon.
		David Richards		2007 to 2012					A consortium led by David Richards, bought Aston Martin Lagonda from the Ford Motor Company for £475 million. The group included John Singers and two Kuwaiti companies, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment.

By 2012 there had been a change from the more individual entrepreneurial aspect of the past. No longer was there just a small group of individuals involved, or a single corporate owner. Investment Dar and Adeem Investment continued their support, and an Italian private equity fund, Investindustrial bought 37.5% of Aston Martin, investing £150 million as a capital increase.

Funding was now being obtained by bond issues (debt).

Edited by Jon39 on Tuesday 3rd March 21:52

Edited by Jon39 on Wednesday 4th March 08:23

Edited by Jon39 on Wednesday 4th March 08:26

[bogie]

Yeah, whatever the govt wants us to believe, fact is electric cars are many, many years before going mainstream.

[RL17]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2020/...

18 Feb joke

[oilit]

in a similar vein

[RL17]

Always thought the Lagonda announcement and concepts in early 2018 were a necessary excuse for AM to kick the EV can further down the road plus the Rapide E project which started publicly in 2015 (now the very limited production run shelved I think) was a very tardy project even by AM standards.

Lagondas were only ever going to be very low numbers.

Should they be planning an EV option for future models though?

Maybe AP has ditched the 2nd century plan for the 20th century plan to become the new Morgan