Aston Martin is a celebrated British car manufacturer and the company is not in great shape financially. But in order to make the going easier, Aston Martin has announced that Mercedes-Benz will increase its stake in the company to 20 percent. In return, Mercedes-Benz will grant Aston Martin access to its latest technologies. These also include Mercedes’ technology for plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles. What this essentially means is that Aston Martin will reduce the cost and risk of developing its own technology for electrified vehicles and will focus on investment in other areas and expand its model portfolio.
Lawrence Stroll, Executive Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda, 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 newly 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.”
Mercedes-Benz will provide technology (including powertrain architecture for a conventional, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles) for all product launches through 2027. Aston Martin has plans to reach 10,000 unit sales per annum by 2024/25 although there is still a long way to go, with the British company delivering just 2,752 cars so far in 2020, which is a drop of 39 percent over 2019. But a part of that can be attributed to the global corona pandemic as well. Aston Martin’s operating losses for 2020 so far stands at £229m. The company aims to have a net income of £500m with interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization added back by the mid part of the decade.
In its recently released financial statement, Aston Martin says that the company has a plan to update its entire front-engined sports car line-up, introduce a new SUV model which will sit along-side the DBX, and launch a new range of mid-engine cars.