The announcement today that the aston martin has a new CEO (CEO) is just the latest chapter of the turbulent times that have been living in recent months in the small British builder.
Andy Palmer has been CEO of the British brand since 2014 and has been responsible for Aston Martin's growth until recent times.
Its “Second Century Plan” (Plan for the Second Century) allowed it to renew the brand's portfolio, having launched the DB11, a new Vantage and the DBS Superleggera. The most important release ever? Perhaps the new DBX, the brand's first SUV — launch compromised due to Covid-19 — with which Palmer hoped to secure the necessary financial stability of the not-always-stable Aston Martin.
The "British Ferrari"
It was Andy Palmer's ambition to elevate Aston Martin to the status of a “British Ferrari” — an expression he used in an interview with Autocar. An ambition focused, above all, on the business model of the powerful Italian brand, but also on the type of car it intends to offer.Subscribe to our newsletter
Just look at the hyper-sport Valkyrie, which is also its first-ever rear mid-engine model — and it won't be the only one. In the plans we see two more “mid-engine” on the way: Valhalla (2022) and a new Vanquish (2023).
However, Palmer's most “ink” decision has been to put Aston Martin on the stock market — we saw the ill-fated Sergio Marchionne do the same with Ferrari when it split from the FCA, and with huge success . In the case of Aston Martin, the story didn't go so well...
After a series of less good commercial results and showing losses in the first three months of this year, the shares of the British brand have already lost 90% of their initial value. Results that led Palmer to review its initial plan, delaying, for example, the introduction of the luxury brand Lagonda in the market.
Lawrence Stroll, the investor, now CEO
In March, came on the scene Lawrence Stroll, best known for his presence in Formula 1 — he is the director of the Racing Point team — having led an investment consortium that will allow him to inject hundreds of millions of euros into Aston Martin (much needed to guarantee the DBX production startup). He also guaranteed the acquisition of 25% of the company to the consortium led by Stroll.
Lawrence Stroll is now CEO of Aston Martin and the plan, for now, is clear: to restart production operations (they were also suspended due to Covid-19), with a clear focus on starting DBX production. The mid-range rear mid-engine super and hyper sports cars are also to continue, to cement Aston Martin's position in this sector of the market.
Who is not part of the future of Aston Martin? Andy Palmer.
Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
Aston Martin has a new CEO
Palmer's poor results may have weighed on Stroll's decision to replace him. The choice for the new CEO of Aston Martin fell to Tobias Moers , a more than 25-year veteran of Daimler. And since 1994 he has been involved, in a more private way, with Mercedes-AMG.
He has climbed to the top of the hierarchy of Daimler's high-performance division, having assumed the role of director since 2013. Moers is one of the main drivers of its expansion: sales rose from 70,000 units in 2015 to 132,000 units a year past.
He is the person with the right skills for the role of CEO of Aston Martin, according to Stroll:
“He is an exceptionally talented professional and a proven business leader, with a strong track record over the many years he has been with Daimler, with whom we have a long and successful technical and commercial partnership that we hope can continue.
During his career, he knew how to expand the range of models, reinforce the brand's positioning and improve profitability.”
Will he be the right person to turn the fortunes of the (almost always) troubled Aston Martin? We will have to wait.
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