Aston Martin is another luxury automaker that has gone through significant changes in a short time. After the IPO, and the difficult pandemic period sales and financial performance suffered a slowdown that resulted in layoffs and the start of its restructuring.
Ownership Structure and Partnerships
The initial step of this process has been the acquisition of a 16.7% stake in the company by the consortium Yew Tree Overseas Limited led by Lawrence Stroll. In subsequent investments, the consortium has brought the share of ownership up to over 26%. A little later, but across more or less the same period another important player entered the picture. Chinese Automaker Group Geely started with a 7.6% stake acquisition in late 2022. The company is naturally well known in Europe by now thanks to its extensive interests with the ownership of legacy brands such as Volvo and Lotus and the creation of new ones like Polestar, already existing but revamped as an EV manufacturer and completely separated by the former parent company Volvo, Lynk & Co, experimenting with new vehicle ownership alternative models, and Zeekr, another EV-only startup that began operations in 2021 and is set to start its first deliveries in Europe in the second half of 2025.
After the initial investment, Geely extended its ownership of the brand to 17% in 2023 becoming the third largest shareholder.
Another important milestone in 2023 for the British automaker is the partnership formed with American EV-maker Lucid. The contract for over $450 million included the supply of electric powertrain components, such as its proprietary high-performance twin motor, and batteries for upcoming electrified vehicles. Following this agreement, however, once again things have not been easy for Aston Martin which, while issuing two separate profit warnings in 2024 due to delays and sales slowdown in China, has also delayed plans for the introduction of its first EV, initially to 2027 and later to 2030.
A sign of relative instability, and probably one that is not encouraging for potential investors, has been the continued change of leadership in a short time. After almost 6 years at the helm of the company, Andy Palmer, right after the arrival of Mr Stroll, was replaced by former AMG CEO Tobias Moers. The new leadership came less than two years later with former Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa, who himself remained for just two more years before being substituted by former Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark.
While some time to properly recover from the pandemic impact was expected, with renewing infrastructure and product portfolio, 2024 was initially quoted as the year the company would have finally become profitable after several years. This has not happened, due to several factors. But what went wrong? And can Aston Martin turn this trend around?
A new direction for the brand
As it has been discussed a few times already in this blog, under the new leadership Aston Martin has refocused its image, communication, and brand strategy on pure performance rather than a more classic ‘British elegance’ and grand touring vehicles.
This vision is ultimately realised in the new vehicle lineup that has been completely renovated over the past five years.
With the 2023 launch of the new DB12 dubbed as “the world’s first super tourer” instead of “just” being a grand tourer, the 12% increase in horsepower and the revised vehicle dynamics Aston Martin brought this vision to life. All the following releases, which over a 2-year period replaced the old lineup, followed suit. The new Vantage’s power has been increased by over 30% over its predecessor, and finally, the new Vanquish which brought back the old formula with the front-engine V12 rather than the mid-engine concept teased in 2019, also delivers important figures with maximum power at 823 hp.
Last but not least, 2025 should finally see the first deliveries of the second mid-engine ever made by the automaker. Born from the collaboration of a few years ago with Red Bull racing, styled by Adrian Newey and Valkyrie’s little sister, the Valhalla.
A second important change that has come with the new lineup is the interior tech update. A common complaint made by modern Aston Martin clients was the outdated tech brought in from 2018 Mercedes models with a previous agreement. Now, all the new vehicles (including the DBX707 which gets the interior update from 2025 on) feature new interiors with greatly improved quality and tech that is up to modern standards but interestingly do not forget the importance of luxury tactile experience. For this reason, Aston Martin did not implement entirely digital control like many competitors have been doing but instead decided to “future-proof” its cars with high-quality physical dials and buttons.
*Aston Martin DB12 interior
The new image for the brand aims to reflect the renewed endeavours in motorsport, with an F1 Team that enters its 5th season under the new name (previously Racing Point), and the Valkyre making its debut this year in the LMH Endurance division. On the motorsport side, the investments go even further, with a completely new HQ for the racing division and a new wind tunnel for aerodynamics testing which has just become operational.
Aston Martin and the Luxury Automotive Industry in 2024-25
While the new approach taken by the management and the steps made so far have been generally praised by enthusiasts communities and media, the results are, unfortunately, far from positive.
Aston Martin Sales (left) and Revenues & Operating Loss (right) (2020-2024)
In 2024, sales have decreased by 9% compared to the previous year and financial losses have remained mostly similar to 2023. Aston Martin reports difficulties with the supply chain in China as a major factor in this slowdown, and the main reason why it had revised its sales target for the year earlier in 2024 lowering it compared to previous estimates. However, it also highlights an 8% increase in volumes in the last quarter of 2024.
So, are there any positives to draw from these uncertain results?
On closer inspection, one positive, reflecting the continuously increased average selling price that reached £245,000 (€291,000) in 2024, is that despite the 3% drop in revenues, while sales volume went to lower levels than 2021 revenues compared to that same year are 45% higher. This at least signals a healthier sales strategy for a luxury brand.
Also, for the first time in quite a few years, the brand seems finally fully positioned on all fronts to deliver good results with marketing, product line, and infrastructure all aligned with the competition and delivering a unique brand character.
Last but not least, it must be remembered that the global market uncertainty has surely negatively affected Aston Martin’s results as several other brands.
In 2024, for the first time in several years, the global luxury market had a contraction, albeit a small one (1-3%). Automotive remains by far the largest industry in the segment with an overall value of €579 billion despite a 5% volume decline. The impact of negative sales is partially offset by the ongoing trend of increased focus on personalisation and exclusivity which Aston Martin has partially captured with improvements in its customer service and range of options of its Q Division (but that is still led by Ferrari with a total 2024 sales of 13,752 units, just +0.7% over 2023 still resulting in a +11.8% in revenues over the same period).
Where to go from here?
The current markets are harder than ever to ‘read’ or try to assess, with multiple geopolitical factors affecting international relations and various dynamics developing in unpredictable ways. So, assuming potential stability of the current situation, Aston Martin seems in the best position in many years (maybe ever) to deliver some good results in 2025. The competition, however, embodied especially by Ferrari, and partially by Lamborghini, is stronger than ever as well. While other British brands like Bentley and McLaren are also not going through an easy time.
Key to the long-term success of this project will be to limit depreciation that has already hit hard older DBX models (with older models losing around 50% of the value already over 5 years probably also due to the following release of the more powerful version), and is affecting the resale value of more recent DBX707 and even DB12 models. Naturally, this is not an issue hitting Aston Martin alone. But managing to do that would make new models more desirable. Similarly, the success of the Valhalla which has so far received a very positive reception will also ensure a good overall boost to financial results, as other special runs have done over the past two years, partially offsetting the other difficulties the automaker has gone through.
Last but not least, a continued improvement of customer service, personalization offering, and dealership network should remain a priority as it is one of the main factors affecting luxury buyers’ purchase decisions. As the restructuring has taken place and reshaped the company, 2025 could be the year financial results catch up.