Stroll says with its new vehicles the company is targeting a gross profit margin per vehicle of at least 40 percent and in some cases 50 percent. Analysts put Ferrari’s figure at more than 55 percent.
By 2025, Aston Martin aims to sell 10,000 cars annually – nearly 40 percent more than in 2021 – close to Ferrari’s production.
Stroll says Aston Martin will benefit from a deal made with Mercedes-Benz in October 2020 where it gets access to the German automaker’s latest engines and EV technology.
Under that deal, Mercedes now owns almost 12 percent of Aston Martin, increasing to 20 percent in 2023. The German luxury automaker has been tight-lipped about plans for its Aston Martin stake.
“It was really important for a company of this size, particularly with electrification coming … to have a big brother,” Stroll said. “So I did a really transformational deal with Mercedes-Benz in order to get their electric architecture.”
Aston Martin plans to launch its first full-electric car in 2025.
Increased customization
Automakers have focused on outsourcing for decades, but increased customization has Aston Martin reversing that trend, said CEO Moers.
Allowing customers to select their leather, stitching and other internal flourishes has led to a 20 percent increase in options, boosting the sale price.
But offering 30 different leather qualities and colors means 900 variations. As each car is individual, it is cheaper to do more in-house – for instance, Aston Martin plans to make its own steering wheels again.
“Variation at Mercedes-Benz was a nightmare, we wanted to cut it down and cut it down,” Moers said. “But here, this is our purpose.”
Aston Martin has closed its paint shop at Gaydon and paints most cars at its SUV plant in Wales – saving 1,000 pounds per car by cutting the immense costs of two paint shops.
But Aston Martin will hand-paint any unique color customers desire, for an additional cost.
Aston Martin has also started delivering the limited-edition Valkyrie, a street-legal version of a Formula One car announced by the company’s previous management that starts at $2.5 million.
But the Valkyrie has been immensely expensive to develop, so will not be repeated, as Aston focuses instead on profitable sports cars.
“There is no business case for this,” Moers said.
Before going electric, Aston Martin is launching a number of combustion engine models, including its powerful V-12 Vantage sports car and a new SUV.
In 2023 the automaker plans its first mid-engine sports car – where the engine sits behind the driver providing better weight distribution for performance – joining Ferrari, McLaren Automotive and Lamborghini.
For Aston Martin and its peers, going electric is especially tricky because the appeal of luxury sports cars is based on the feel of a powerful internal combustion engine.
“More of the people that are our customers today, who are more petrol heads, want to see, feel, hear and smell a combustion engine for a long time,” Stroll said.
But for going electric, “Mercedes will be the base of whatever we do,” he said.
Redbush’s Coldicott said Aston Martin lacks Ferrari’s broader appeal and likely cannot sustain the annual production of 10,000 units needed for long-term investments in new vehicles. As the company expects to burn through almost $158 million this year, Coldicott said Aston Martin has limited time.
“If you put a gun to my head, I would say my base case is Mercedes will acquire the business,” he said. “I do not know at what price, but I imagine it will be significantly lower than today’s price.”
Mercedes spokesman Tobias Just said in an email the automaker is “very happy with our existing cooperation with Aston Martin.”
He declined to comment on Mercedes’s future plans for its Aston Martin stake if the British automaker’s turnaround stalls.
Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois said while Aston Martin has aspired for many years to be more like Ferrari, its current management has consistently done the right thing, moving its brand upmarket “by underproducing and moving towards more content and more customization.”
“They are now walking the talk at Aston Martin,” Houchois said. “But it’s a question of how long it takes and if they have the financing to back that up.”