Aston Martin sales dropped sharply in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, but strong demand for the new Aston Martin DBX SUV sparked a recovery in the final quarter.
The British firm counted 4150 retail sales across the year, down 32% on 2019, and wholesale volume - sales of cars to dealers - dropped 42% from 5862 units to 3394.
As a result, annual revenue declined to £611.8 million from £980.5m year on year and Aston Martin made an operating loss of £323m. However, this includes £98m of "adjusting operating items, largely the impairment of capitalised R&D due to technology and cycle plan changes".
The DBX accounted for more than a quarter of total sales, with 1171 units sold in Q4 – the marque's strongest quarter in 2020. Along with the sale of 32 'special' models, up from 10 in Q3, and a "reduction in total customer and retail financing support", Aston Martin saw a 3% quarterly revenue growth and positively adjusted its EBITDA (earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation) forecast for the year.
A total cash reserve of £489m at the end of the year was a significant boost over December 2019's £108m, which the firm attributes to "refinancing to strengthen financial resilience and support growth ambitions".
Net debt was down year-on-year from £988m to £727m, with shareholder equity rising from £330m to £804m, following billionaire Lawrence Stroll's acquisition of a 16.7% stake in January and then Mercedes-Benz boosting its stake to 20%.
New Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers has given the first details of a new 'Project Horizon' strategy to "drive growth, agility and efficiency" in the wake of the pandemic. Priorities for the firm this year include beginning deliveries of the long-awaited Valkyrie hypercar in the second half and launching new derivatives of the DBX in the third quarter.
In support of the revitalisation plan, Moers said: "We have further strengthened the management team, adding experienced hires with strong luxury and automotive backgrounds.
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so that means 372 more cars sold to dealers than dealers sold to customers so a few deals to be had on the 2019 and 2020 cars sat in showrooms with delivery or very minimal mileage. seen quite a few dbs superleggeras down from c£250k with options to c£179k sticker price at the moment so a 28% drop against list. does anybody know if dealers have that much margin on new sales
That means they have delivered half the orders they have for the DBX. Valkyrie is way overdue. Not by a small margin either.
But the problem remains: Reichman.
Until they sack Marek Reichmen they will not turn their fortunes around. You simply can not when it has already been proven his designs do not sell. Pointless to do more derivatives of his designs when they just do not sell. Aston needs a new designer to fix his mess.
Imagine managing a luxury car brand like Aston Martin and allowing the word 'wholesale' to be uttered anywhere outside head office. It makes the brand sound like Costco. Maybe they'll do an ad for the DBX outside Costco, showing how many loo rolls you can fit in the back? I'm sure that will impress potential customers!