Welcome to Britain! Please excuse the first-name familiarity, but we hope you will soon be doing so much communicating that this will seem entirely appropriate. Besides, it’s already obvious that you have one of those distinctive names – like Boris – that instantly identifies you. In the UK, that’s good. Congratulations on a great decision to take the Aston Martin job. Your timing is immaculate.
Following the disastrous sharemarket flotation, it’s clear that the company has big problems, but it also has assets that most failing companies would kill for: in-house talent, a well-engineered range of cars, excellent manufacturing facilities and an impressive, volume-boosting SUV ready to go. He won’t get much credit, but your predecessor, Andy Palmer, left good things behind.
Among other good news, the Covid-19 crisis is now declining in key markets and prestige car dealers say they have customers ready to reward themselves for surviving the pandemic; this ought to help you shift that car backlog your new boss, Lawrence Stroll, talks about.
Your own engineering track record is 24-carat, you’ve loved fast cars all your life, you come from a company that everyone thinks of as Technology Central and we know from interviews that you’re a confident bloke with an impressive personal aura. So you’ll get on fine with the workforce, who coped even under Ulrich Bez. In short, if you hadn’t come along, Stroll and Co would have had to invent you.
Even your decision to leave ultra-secure AMG looks canny. As the industry moves into electrification, it’s obvious that cars will converge rapidly in their delivery of smoothness, silence and effortless high performance. In such an era, making hot Mercedes variants, however good, might not be as sustainable as rescuing a legendary 107-year-old British luxury brand that can stay special forever as long as it makes great products and builds them as well as those from Affalterbach.
Your key asset, of course, is Daimler, the all-important 5% shareholder that supplies Aston Martin’s most complex components – stuff you created yourself, so you know it’s good. And you’re backed by a fiercely determined and well-heeled group of investors who will lose millions and lots of face if they fail. That puts pressure on you, but it also means the bigwigs are thirsty for change.
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Bring back style, comfort and space.
Not being a new Aston buyer it seems churlish to comment, but I have loved AM for as long as I can remember (so James Bond does matter sadly) so would humbly offer my opinion.
The new cars are getting uglier each iteration. The styling faults/quirks are so glaringly obvious yet they still pass design clinics and got into production, how? I agree Reichman needs replacing. They are also too harsh, and aggressive as an everday driver, and too cramped and impractical as a tourer. I bought a newer Aston, and it lasted a year before I went out and bought an older model more in keeping with AM's core GT character.
Aston needs a choice of sporting cars, not different sizes of the same rock hard snarling monster. At least one model needs to be a comfortable tourer. I would love to ask the thousands more people who buy the uglier and chintzier Bentley GT exactly WHY they chose that over what should in my eyes be the default equivalent Aston.
The DBX is hideous, but buyers in that luxury SUV segment seem completely blind to taste and looks, so good luck to it. Paint it all black inside and out with a chrome bull bar, it will go like hot cakes.
Before diching the idea of a new Lagonda it would be goo to know if the Taraf made any money. There always seems to be a middle east market for a low sleek ultra exclusive 4 door.
And stuff full electrification; I dream the end wall of that particular blind alley will soon loom large so that progress in personal transport can be driven by engineers rather than politicians and activists. The developing world is a huge market that will not be catered for by this "solution", and I wouldnt put all eggs into one basket.
I also agree with poster suggesting reducing numbers. There must be a balance between profitablity and instant reward vs oversupply. I watched the value of my DB9 plummet thanks to "Boxster Syndrome"......an essentially well engineered product, but used so sparingly as a toy that it potentially lasts forever ensuring that every person who actually wants one has it already.
It's not hard to see what needs doing - just hard to do it
Fire Reichman. Simple fix and statement of intent that the cars going forward must and will look better. Focus on quality. Stop whoring out the brand to anyone who will pay for it. If Stroll has the money and appetite or can work with other partners, take it private again as the market dictating business strategyy won't ever work. Be less arrogant - AM have confused arrogance with confidence for years. Oh yes, and totally agree that Bond is SO old hat. Find a new direction that doesn't involve this type of influencer fluff.
It's not hard to see what needs doing - just hard to do it
Fire Reichman. Simple fix and statement of intent that the cars going forward must and will look better. Focus on quality. Stop whoring out the brand to anyone who will pay for it. If Stroll has the money and appetite or can work with other partners, take it private again as the market dictating business strategyy won't ever work. Be less arrogant - AM have confused arrogance with confidence for years. Oh yes, and totally agree that Bond is SO old hat. Find a new direction that doesn't involve this type of influencer fluff.