Next year is a big one for Britain’s exotic sportscar maker Aston Martin, with new models, new engines and special editions but chairman David Richards is not expecting a return to the heady days of two years ago.
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The company sold a record 5,500 cars that year and Richards does not expect to reach those levels again until 2012, even with the new four-door Rapide – built by Magna Steyr in Austria – about to roll off the production lines.
He expects sales to come in at around 4,000 this year and is confident that the number will increase next year.
“We have the new Rapide coming out and the inquiry levels are way ahead of where we thought they would be. The car goes into production in January with first deliveries to customers in March or April.”
Why build in Austria by contract assembler Magna, which seems strange given that Aston is well short of its 8,000-9,000 a year capacity at Gaydon in Warwickshire?
Richards said: “The decision to shift production to Magna was taken when the market was a lot more buoyant. Once the wheels have been set in motion, it does not make sense to stop them.”
Also on the new product front is the V12 Vantage and the expensive One-77 of which only 77 will be built.
Richards said: “The One-77 is an intriguing product. All the rules of the current economic environment say it won’t work but we have already sold half of them and we will sell all 77 cars. Give it another three or four years and I imagine we will consider doing something similar again.”
Aston Martin is also pressing ahead with plans to work with Toyota on a high end IQ small car.
He added: “There are still a lot of issues in terms of manufacturing processes and timing to resolve before this goes into production. I don’t think it will add or detract from the Aston Martin name. It is an interesting project and if you do things the right way you will be surprised how far you can go with a brand. Most Aston Martin customers have another car and the rationale for the IQ project is to target those customers, something they can drive around the city in.”
Not everything is going ahead, however. Previously announced plans to revive the Lagonda brand have been put on the shelf – “still sitting in the wings but we will revisit that at some point.”
Meanwhile motorsport is still very close to the former rally co-driver who founded Prodrive in 1984, a company that has won six world rally championships with Subaru, five British touring car titles with BMW, Alfa Romeo and Ford and class wins at Le Mans with Ferrari and Aston Martin.
Prodrive also managed the BAR Honda F1 team which was runner up in the constructors’ championship in 2004.
Still chairman and chief executive of Prodrive, Richards still has designs on F1, putting in a proposal to enter a team on one of the spare spaces on next year’s Grand Prix grid, although not using the Aston Martin name as many people thought.
He explained: “Aston Martin is not ready for F1, it’s not part of its heritage and there is still a lot for us to do in sports car racing
“Prodrive did put in a proposal but was turned down. We were asked to make some changes to the proposal and I wasn’t prepared to do that. But I don’t rule it out for the future.”
Richards does think that F1 needs to take a good look at itself, however. “Everyone needs to have a careful think about where the business is going and what to do. What is the future role of motorsport in the industry given the withdrawal of big names like Honda, BMW and Toyota? There is still a question mark over the future of Renault.
“Motorsport will play a valid role in the car industry in the future but it will have to change. It can’t carry on the way it has – there have far too many excesses in some areas. We have to look at the relevance of motorsport in terms of the vehicles that take to the road. F1 is all about aerodynamics but that has nothing to do with the electric vehicles or environmental technology. Motorsport can play its part in creating brands that people desire. It can project style and technology.”
So why are big manufacturers pulling out? “I think perhaps the costs got out of control. Sometimes the only way to bring them back into line is to stop and start again. If F1 can be made financially viable then manufacturers will be there – but you can’t sacrifice all for just being there.”
As for the F1 circus, he is full of admiration for commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone. “Despite all the criticism he gets, what he has achieved for the sport is extraordinary. Is it sustainable at the level? We are already seeing a shift in financial power to emerging countries and the interest is growing. If your only measure of F1’s success is viewing figures, well the global volumes and huge.
“No one can just step into Bernie’s shoes. If and when he steps down I think you will see a change from the entrepreneurial style to a more consensus-driven approach. There will be a need for two or three people to take over what Bernie has done for F1.”
While F1 has moved onto the back burner, Subaru’s decision to pull out of the world rally championships has not dented Prodrive’s ambitions in that department.
“We will return to WRC in 2011 with a certain manufacturer. You might expect an announcement on that fairly soon,” Richards said.
