The CEO of Aston Martin has a crazy plan to save the brand by doing less work

Hallmark, who directed Bentley in the green, wants to do the same with Aston Martin

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Aston Martin’s newly appointed managing director has set himself a tight deadline at only 12 to 18 months, to transform the business fortunes for the company. While financial difficulties were a recurring theme in the history of Aston Martin, the latest brand leader Adrian Hallmark has a history of success. As a former CEO of Bentley, he played a key role in his financial reversal, and now he takes what could be his biggest challenge to this day.

In an interview Automobile newsHallmark described the opportunity to make Aston Martin lastingly profitable for the first time in more than a century as “irresistible”. But he knows that the clock turns. “It must be 12 to 18 months, by then, it must be corrected,” he said. “I am not saying that we will offer at this time the financial performance of Ferra-Ferra level, but (it will be) fixed in terms of going to the right direction in the place where it will function properly.”

Read: Aston Martin Boss admits that the brand needs more quarters of stick

Hallmark has not set a specific target for when Aston Martin will become profitable, but he clearly indicated that the continuation of higher sales figures is not the priority. Instead, the emphasis is on improving value creation, which essentially makes each car more profitable rather than simply selling more. He underlined the long -standing strategy of Ferrari aimed at limiting production to maintain exclusivity while reducing substantial benefits.

“I am not saying that this is our limit (7,000 units), but we do not need 13,000 to be a large company. There will be a volume growth, but you will also see us approaching the productivity and the cost structure of the company, “he revealed.

A new focus on derivatives

Hallmark arrived in Aston Martin after launching four new models in 18 months. He said that while releasing several new models in such a short period “was excellent”, it also caused the company to lose 30 to 40% of its capacity because it had to slow down production. In the future, Aston Martin will focus on the launch of new derivatives of these new models, according to a path similar to Porsche with the legendary 911.

“We must be more realistic about the time of the programs,” said Hallmark. “But the derivatives are easier. Say you have 5,000 coins on a car. The winner, around 4,900 of them were new. With a derivative about 100 are new. The addition of a more sporty or more luxurious version version is a marginal increase in complexity. For the basic product, 90 to 95% of the equipment bill is the same. We were on the large launch phase. Now we are in the micro-launching phase. »»

This “micro-launch phase” will include at least two new versions of the Valhalla with an intermediate engine. Automobile news I think one will be a convertible, while Hallmark has laid down that the other will be “a special”.

A factor working in favor of Aston Martin is the growing number of ultra-rich buyers. According to Hallmark, the number of people who can afford cars in the Aston Martin price range have developed considerably, and their average wealth has quadrupled in the past two decades. In other words, there are more potential customers than ever who are ready to spend big on a vanquish or a SUV like the DBX.