Aston Martin will boost its presence in Asia with a new Meta Technology and Luxury Accelerator office in Japan.
The site, located in Tokyo, will open in 2018 and comes as part of £500 million worth of investment and trade with the country. The site will be responsible for analysing market demands and trends in the region, feeding the information directly back to Aston Martin’s UK headquarters in Gaydon.
The office will also be charged with connecting with local brands that specialise in electric powertrian and connected technologies, as well as growing Aston Martin’s dealer network.
CEO Andy Palmer announced the plan during a visit to Japan with Prime Minister Theresa May, where he is one of several delegates helping to build an improved trade deal. Palmer said that the money Aston Martin is investing forms part of its Second Century growth plan.
“As the world’s second-largest luxury car market, Japan is key to our future plans as we completely revitalise and expand our product portfolio under our Second Century plan,” he explained. “We have long enjoyed a loyal following from Japanese customers and the public alike, with our new dealership in Tokyo set to become our largest worldwide by volume.”
The prime minister emphasised the importance of this deal for Britain, linking it to negotiations taking place with several countries that aim to ensure British exports are still in demand post-Brexit.
“As we prepare to leave the European Union, it is vital that we build on our existing ties with friends and allies,” May said. “Aston Martin’s £500m deal will directly benefit the Gaydon plant in West Midlands and [its second plant in] St Athan in Wales, helping safeguard existing jobs and opening new possibilities for future deals with Japan.”
Aston Martin exports around 80% of its products, with the US its biggest market, ahead of Japan. The brand has seen rapid growth in recent months, driven by the launch of its DB11, and posted record profits in the first half of 2017.
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Is Andy Palmer Dany Bahar in disguise?
AM's PR is becoming increasingly Baharesque. It's troubling.
It's press release tosh meant to appease the public!
So the details of the deal include possibilities of exports worth 400 million, thats more than 2500 Astons! they sold a grand total of 3600 odd Astons in 2016, so Japan alone is supposed to create a 70% bump in demand?!
And Aston will import components from Japan, I'm pretty sure this is not the most lucrative supply deal japanese component ,manufacturers have backed. Then the final bit is opening an office in Japan, WOW!
teresa may needed to comeback with some sort of trade deal and she chose this to convince people! God bless this country.
£500m investment, really???
They only had revenue of £600 in 2016 with an operating profit of £16m. And that was a good year!
missed an 'm'
mean't £600m