Aston-Martin Industry News Cars

It feels like the manual transmission is currently under fire and, despite all the evidence that says its days are numbered, it somehow manages to stick around – at least for now, anyway. But, as time goes on, more and more automakers will begin to start phasing it out on mainstream models and sportscars alike. The latest example of this is Aston Martin, which apparently plans to retire its manual gearbox altogether, even if that means breaking promises.

Bizzarrini, an Italian manufacturer that built a few notable sports and racing cars in the 1960s, could return after 50 years of absence. The company formerly led by engineer and designer Giotto Bizzarrini is reportedly being revived by London-based luxury car dealer group Pegasus Brands and a team led by former Aston Martin CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez.

Back in 2013, Aston Martin and Mercedes-Benz entered a cooperation through which the British company gained access to the 4.0-liter V-8 AMG engine and various components for its production models. In exchange, Mercedes-Benz received an equity participation of five-percent in Aston Martin, which eventually transformed into a 2.6-percent stake. Earlier in 2020 we heard rumors that Aston Martin needs to develop its own engine as Mercedes is slowly phasing out the AMG V-8, but it seems that the companies are actually taking their partnership further. Aston Martin is set to gain access to new Mercedes technologies, which in turn will receive new shares in the British firm.

The Aston Martin Valkyrie comes off as a world-class hypercar, but it hasn’t been without its problems either. The race-going version, for example, was postponed a while back because the of class merges happening within the World Endurance Championship. And, while Aston claimed that development of the road car was still ongoing, a global pandemic struck and Ex-CEO Andy Palmer was replaced with the Ex-CEO of Mercedes-AMG, Tobias Moers. The company did get a huge influx of cash when Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll invested $657 million, but Aston Martin has still be struggling – even with the DBX finally going into production. Now, it looks like the Aston Martin Valkyrie is in a lot of trouble, and things aren’t looking very good. A tough decision needs to be made.

At this point, even those living under the most obscure rock know that almost every automotive company – aside from Tesla it seems – took a major hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aston Martin was on the bad side of that too, with sales down some 64-percent in the first half of 2020 and a total revenue of just £146 million. The company’s plan to bounce back includes “rebalancing supply to demand” and reducing production of key sports car lines to focus more on the DBX SUV. Part of this profitability increase means cutting 500 jobs, but I also see a hidden message that says “give us more money.” Let me explain.

Aston Martin has been an independent company for the majority of its time on the market. But surviving as an independent brand is tough, so it’s not surprising that the British company has gone bankrupt seven times in its history. Although it’s somewhat stable nowadays, Aston Martin only recently became profitable and went public in 2018.

With a new recession looming in, the company’s shareholders have approved a financial rescue package from Yew Tree, a Canadian consortium led by Lawrence Stroll. The £536 million ($659 million) investment from the Yew Tree consortium led by Stroll will help Aston Martin put the DBX into production.

For those of you living under a rock for the last decade, Aston Martin has long borrowed Mercedes-AMG’s V-8 for its sports cars. That very engine powers the Vantage, DB11, and even the new DBX, but that’s also a big problem because Mercedes-AMG is working on slowly phasing out its V-8 engine. That leaves Aston Martin to either suck it up and transition to four-cylinders – something that won’t happen for a long time to come, if ever – or come up with its own new powertrain. Well, as you probably already guessed, Aston is taking the better route and is now preparing to develop an electrified V-6 engine for use in most of its future cars.

Despite the introduction of the DBX, 2019 was a very tough year for Aston Martin, which posted a pre-tax loss of $118 million through September of 2019. Now, Aston Martin has warned that its annual profit for 2019 will be cut in half, while Reuters is reporting that December sales were so disappointing that wholesale volumes dropped by seven percent in 2019. All told, annual profits for 2019 (converted from GBP to USD) will sit between about $170 million and $182 million - a far cry from the company’s $325 million profit in 2018.

Financial figures being what they are, that means there are going to be some big financial changes for the company in 2020, including a cost-cutting program that puts at least one model on the guillotine.

Aston Martin wants its clients to not baby their cars anymore and, instead, head to the track and hone their skills to extract everything out of their sports cars. That’s why the British automaker launched the AMR Drivers’ Club that will tour some of Europe’s top tracks and teach Aston owners how to drive better. The program could, potentially, help some of you become legitimate race car drivers.

The program offers a number of levels divided into three areas: AMR Experience, AMR Academy, and AMR GT Academy. From learning how to drive your own car as fast as you can, to tasting other Aston-Martin products, including the 2019 Vantage GT4, everything is possible through this program - if you can afford it. Then again, if you can afford to own an Aston-Martin, you can probably afford to track it too.

Aston Martin announced that it was selling the design and tooling for its Vanquish model, but it didn’t specify who it was sold to for £20-million or around $26-million. Now, a new report indicates that the buyer was, in fact, low volume car manufacturer Morgan. Morgan has since announced new models. The math seems pretty simple here, right?

While preparing for its IPO on the London Stock Exchange earlier this month, Aston Martin released a share prospectus targeting potential investors. In this 321-page document, the automaker has revealed some interesting tidbits that were not publically revealed earlier. The one that caught our attention was a $26-million deal wherein someone bought the tooling and design drawings of the outgoing Vanquish grand tourer.

If I had the money, I think my first big toy (after the race car, of course) would be a submarine. The idea of flying under the waves, exploring the mysteries of the deep… it’s all just so cool. Of course, to do it up proper, you’d need the right machine, not some spartan tin can with a periscope attached to the roof. Now, it looks like Aston Martin and Triton have just the ticket with this multi-million-dollar luxury submersible dubbed Project Neptune, which was just revealed in its final production form this week.

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