Fixing Aston Martin

[SSO]

Just posted a new article on what I would do if I ran Aston Martin:

https://karenable.com/if-i-ran-aston-martin/

Comments?

[GG.]

Totally agree on ditching the silly side projects - can't help but think that F1 will never be anything other than disastrous from a financial POV and will add little to the brand as a whole as it just isn't relevant to their generally GT focussed road cars (save potentially for your suggestion of a mid engined Vantage)- Porsche saw that long ago.

On their mainstay products I think they're in big trouble. Other than the DBS Superleggera I now don't think they have an attractive car in the line up. Their interiors also lag Bentley and I know that a lot of people view the Conti GT as an alternative (though in my mind they're sufficiently different to not be true competitors but many buyers look at badge + price and not driving dynamics).

I think the switch to Merc V8s is also going to be damaging long term IMO as I can't see why you'd buy a Vantage over a AMG GT when they've dialled back the HP in the English car and the previous gen Vantage sounded so much better. If it was still a looker then you may get away with it but combined with the gopping re-style... I think they're well on the way to their 8th bankruptcy.

[SSO]

Totally agree on ditching the silly side projects - can't help but think that F1 will never be anything other than disastrous from a financial POV and will add little to the brand as a whole as it just isn't relevant to their generally GT focussed road cars (save potentially for your suggestion of a mid engined Vantage)- Porsche saw that long ago.

On their mainstay products I think they're in big trouble. Other than the DBS Superleggera I now don't think they have an attractive car in the line up. Their interiors also lag Bentley and I know that a lot of people view the Conti GT as an alternative (though in my mind they're sufficiently different to not be true competitors but many buyers look at badge + price and not driving dynamics).

I think the switch to Merc V8s is also going to be damaging long term IMO as I can't see why you'd buy a Vantage over a AMG GT when they've dialled back the HP in the English car and the previous gen Vantage sounded so much better. If it was still a looker then you may get away with it but combined with the gopping re-style... I think they're well on the way to their 8th bankruptcy.

I don't think Aston has the resources to develop/build their own engines, much less invest in hybridization. In terms of resources, getting the mainstream products right is already a huge undertaking and that's not something they can source externally. Comes down to hard choices on where you put your resources.

[GG.]

Not from scratch on their own, no, but they developed the new v12 twin-turbo in conjunction with Ford and I think they should have done the same with the v8 turbo - there must have been some development saving if you based the v8 off the v12. Maybe there is some background as to why they didn't but seems a strange decision to me when Mercedes have such a direct competitor in the AMG GT which meant they were never going to be given a top spec engine. I guess it may be simply that they wanted the electronic infotainment as part of the package.

[SSO]

Not from scratch on their own, no, but they developed the new v12 twin-turbo in conjunction with Ford and I think they should have done the same with the v8 turbo - there must have been some development saving if you based the v8 off the v12. Maybe there is some background as to why they didn't but seems a strange decision to me when Mercedes have such a direct competitor in the AMG GT which meant they were never going to be given a top spec engine. I guess it may be simply that they wanted the electronic infotainment as part of the package.

Given the close ties between Racing Point and Mercedes, I think AM is stuck working with Mercedes on any engine development at this point.

[ShockDiamonds]

Not read the article but I did read elsewhere quite recently that Aston went from a scalable architecture with VH to something different with Vantage, DB11 etc. In other words, parts and underlying architecture is not shared quite the way it once was. This I find utterly bizarre as surely in this modern world they should be parts sharing where it is sensible to do so. I suppose the risk is that the VH cars all seemed too similar, at least in looks, and hence they've moved away from it. But now they've got several architectures, all of which seem different. Plus they're committed to the new V6. That DBX really needs to sell...

[SSO]

Not read the article but I did read elsewhere quite recently that Aston went from a scalable architecture with VH to something different with Vantage, DB11 etc. In other words, parts and underlying architecture is not shared quite the way it once was. This I find utterly bizarre as surely in this modern world they should be parts sharing where it is sensible to do so. I suppose the risk is that the VH cars all seemed too similar, at least in looks, and hence they've moved away from it. But now they've got several architectures, all of which seem different. Plus they're committed to the new V6. That DBX really needs to sell...

They need a mega hit with the DBX.....yet on the Q&A after the earning call they refused to release any order book numbers........