- A consortium led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll will invest up to $650 million in Aston Martin.
- Stroll’s Formula 1 team, Racing Point, will become Aston Martin F1 starting in 2021, and Aston’s long-term collaboration with Red Bull Racing will end.
- The automaker will suspend EV development until after 2025.
Aston Martin has been having a tough time recently, and the company confirmed back in December that it was talking to potential investors to raise the cash necessary to keep it in business. Now that process has ended, and we know who has won out: a consortium led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll took a 16.7 percent stake in Aston, with Stroll’s Racing Point Formula 1 team set to become Aston Martin’s works F1 effort for 10 years starting in 2021.
Other changes include a delay in launching electric vehicles until after 2025, effectively suspending plans for a Lagonda EV brand until after that date. The company has also confirmed rumors that development of the limited-run electric Rapide E (pictured above) has been suspended and says that both job losses and further cost cutting will follow as the company retrenches and looks to save around $12 million a year. On the upside, Aston says it will be pressing ahead with plans to launch a range of mid-engine supercars.
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This is where things get more complicated, as Aston already has another Formula 1 technical partner. The Valkyrie, co-developed with Red Bull Racing, will be launched this year, and Aston’s sponsorship of the Red Bull F1 team will continue until the end of the 2020 season. Red Bull Racing has also been involved in the creation of the second mid-engine Aston, the Valhalla, which is set to be launched in 2022; while Aston says it remains committed to the project, there is no word on whether Red Bull’s collaboration will continue. Beyond that a less extreme mid-engine Aston Martin Vanquish will follow, with this car set to use the hybridized V-6 engine that Aston has previously confirmed it is developing.
The company has also confirmed that the slow-selling Vantage (pictured above) will be given a major refresh and that a roadster version will be launched later this year to broaden its appeal further.
The decision to accept Stroll’s offer was agreed on at an Aston board meeting last night. The company also considered a rival proposal from Chinese automaker Geely (which owns Volvo and Lotus, as well as half of Smart). The investment will include the purchase of 45.6 million new shares at a price of about $5.25 a share and will also bring about $73 million in short-term funding. There will also be a new rights issue to raise an additional $418 million. Lawrence Stroll will join the company’s board as executive chairman, and Andy Palmer will be staying on as CEO.
Aston’s recent problems were twofold: a collapse in value of its stock price following last year’s IPO, plus falling demand for its more traditional sports cars, with the Vantage performing well under expectations. Hopes are pinned on the DBX, the company’s first SUV which will be going on sale later in the year, and which has impressed us in prototype form. Aston says it currently has 1800 orders for the DBX, of which 1200 are “customer specified,” a rate “materially better than for any previous models.” Palmer has previously said he hopes to rapidly increase DBX production towards the 5000-per-year capacity of the company’s new Saint Athan plant.
Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
