Motoring: With lift from ‘big brother,’ Aston Martin chases after Ferrari – Gulf Digital News

Motoring: With lift from ‘big brother,’ Aston Martin chases after Ferrari – Gulf Digital News

After decades of ups and downs, British carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda is charting a more efficient and profitable way forward, leaning on technology from shareholder Mercedes-Benz to make the costly leap to electric vehicles (EVs).

Less than two years after billionaire Lawrence Stroll drove to the rescue of James Bond's car brand of choice, Aston Martin has undergone a manufacturing makeover to lift margins and help it become more like rival Ferrari .

Stroll, Aston Martin's largest shareholder and executive chairman, who is also an avid fan of Ferrari, says after vehicle sales jumped 82 % in 2021 the carmaker's transformation to long-term profitability is well under way, with new cars coming and funding secured through 2025.

But analysts say Aston Martin, which has gone bust seven times since it was founded in 1913 and has flirted with death as often as Agent 007, is still burning through piles of cash. Some question its ability to generate Ferrari-like sales to fund the vast cost of electrification.

"It's precarious and it is possible for this company to go bust," said Redburn equity research analyst Charles Coldicott. "I don't think it's a controversial thing to say even though Aston wouldn't like to hear it."

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