In this week's round-up of industry gossip, Fisker reveals pre-order statistics for its Ocean electric SUV, Peugeot discusses the electrification of its range and Lawrence Stroll shares his bold predictions for Aston Martin sales.
Ocean rising
Fisker has received 11,000 pre-orders worldwide for its Ocean electric SUV, the firm’s boss, Henrik Fisker, told Autocar. The UK is the third-largest market for it behind Denmark and Norway, and Fisker said allocations are sold out ahead of the car’s (and brand’s) launch in late 2022. “If you order a car now, you won’t get it until the first half of 2023, and if you order later this year, you’re looking at the second half of 2023 or 2024,” he said.
Last gasp for Peugeot ICEs
The current 208 and Peugeot 2008 will be the last B-segment cars Peugeot offers with petrol or diesel engines. In their next generations, likely in 2026, they will be offered as EVs only, (now former) boss Jean-Philippe Imparato said. Already more than one in five of these models are sold as EVs, a figure that’s growing on a monthly basis.
High targets
Chairman Lawrence Stroll believes Aston Martin can sell about 10,000 cars a year once its model range is complete. Half of those are expected to be from the DBX and its SUV derivatives (“There will be various variants in the future,” he said), alongside around 3000-4000 front-engined models and about 1000-1500 mid-engined cars. The company’s sales in the UK halved during 2020, SMMT figures show, but its performance in other markets has been stronger.
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Fisker previews “radical” electric pick-up to rival Tesla Cybertruck
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Stroll made his money - a LOT of money - in branding amd marketing, so it's fair to say he knows more about that than I do. But, 15,000 Astons per year WOULD significantly dilute the specialness of the marque, and that would be a big mistake. As an Aston enthsiast and owner, I don't think the mid-engine plan is a good one either. Aston should focus on what Aston does best - great front-engined sports and GT cars (super-expensive halo cars like the Valkyrie excepted - those can be anything). Although I hate it in principal, I hope the DBX does well for financial reasons, but I'd hate to see Aston become primarily a maker of SUVs.
Bentley, 1,000 units.
Ferrari, 10,000 units.
Lamborghini, 8,200 units.
Aston Martin, 5,800 units (wholesale).
The Aston figure (2019) also includes all the cars they punted in to dealers that they spent most of 2020 trying to de-stock. Their own annual report (the source of this inforamtion) states that they have problems with weak demand for the Vantage, which should be their great success story.
When you look at what other key players in the market are managing the reality is Stroll is being a fantasist. Not when fundamentally he is not doing anything different from what got Aston Martin in to this mess. Not when they are still reliant upon Marek Reichman designs that just do not sell.
Until Aston sacks Marek Reichman they will never reach their potential. And Stroll needs to get a grip on reality.
Sorry, finger trouble,
Bentley 11,000 sales.
And because I have to type more content to get around the annoying posting block, remember that Aston s mid engine program has stalled. They are not activelly working on the Valhalla, and the Vanquish is a form factor that has never found acceptance in the market. It will be as difficult to get in and out of as an Elise, but with the looks of a LeMans prototype.
Is that 11k pre orders with a deposit or yea I have had a drink or two whilst surfing the site and came across your website, put me down for three and here is my email address.