Aston Martin Boss Packs His Bags - Replaced By Mercedes AMG Boss

Lol Mercedes is a beast when it comes to strategy.

Build Aston an SUV that will get them back 2 black and take the reigns so they don’t screw up their own comeback.

Mercedes needs to absorb Aston completely.

Now would be the perfect time with A-M value significantly depressed but Mercedes
has its own cash flow issues and likely content to let other dreamers throw cash into this bottomless pit to keep it on life support.

I'd absorb Aston and take it fully traditional ICE, gentlemen's GT and leave the techy stuff to AMG.

@MD-You called this (Mercedes absorbing Aston) years ago. With the F1 Team head taking a stake, the former AMG Boss now being brought in as CEO and Mercedes continuing as a parts supplier, it seems inevitable now. Sad that is little firm has $1B in debt, but Mercedes has deep pockets. Nobody cars that Lamborghini is part of VW. And nobody will care if Aston stays Aston but is part of Mercedes Benz. They could be a continued AMG customer for "legacy" motors for far into the future.

All part of the strategy, however timing is everything, Aston is still bleeding, a Benz will likely step in with a majority stake when Aston has reached its lowest point and the new SUV can see full production capacity.

Better to board the plane when it’s landed then attempt to stop a plummeting plane, dragging down your ROI/bottom line with it

The DBX needed to be a $100K volume product. It could very well be the product that sinks Aston.

I guess we will see. The order book is said to be full at the pricing used now. They still want to be like Ferrari and build to order for all vehicles. If they can entice people to option up a DBX to $250k on most orders, they can laugh all the way to the bank. I think they are only looking for 4000 units a year. If they can get cars back to that level or a bit more they will be doing much better.

Let's take this one step further and Imagine Mercedes buying JLR

Jaguar becomes semi-affordable/semi-mainstream sports cars and a muscle sedan
F-Type $50K base with V8
J-Type $90K base TTV8
XJ Think Bertone B99 meets AMG Hammer for $50K base
The only way Jaguar can survive is to go down market and chase volume.

Land Rover goes fully "Wrangler" and Range Rover goes solely with the top model.

along with Aston above it.

As for the order book being full, that's marketing bullshit that is used all the time.

#PagingElonMusk

"Orders" are NOT customers walking in and ordering a vehicle.

"Orders" are production allotment that has been assigned to a dealer to be sold.

Yes a customer can order a vehicle, but what happens is that configuration is searched and routed away from its original end point to the dealer placing the "order".

Aston needed the DBX to generate big sales--relatively speaking--to new people to draw them into the Aston Martin experience.

Instead they are targeting the DBX at previous Aston owners, so the strategy ISN'T to grow the brand and they will wind up diverting sales away from coupes toward the glorified, rebadged Mercedes for $200K.

I agree that is how the order book issue works with most firms. I have seen the routing first hand when I was picking out a BMW years ago. But Aston is supposed be adopting the Ferrari model. Order one. Build one. No dealer stock of new cars.
I guess we will find out what is true if they survive.

I can set you up with an Aston Dealer right now that has several on the lot languishing.

And with the official announcement out of Palmer leaving as well as some board members, the stock has jumped an incredible 40%. I guess markets have a lot of faith in the new CEO from AMG and the upcoming DBX SUV. Aston Martin just might be on its way to a very bright future.

Palmer is a big, turd in the punch-bowl, dud. I think he ran a Nissan division in Europe or Asia before getting the AM job.

I heard him speak at an Aston owners group a few years ago and it was like having a landscaper be the key note speaker at a neuro-surgery convention. How the f*ck he got that AM job is beyond me and the new AMG guy should be able to roll with a more effective strategy.

These are all the right moves by the Pope of Canada, he has the track record of success that Aston needs.