Aston Martin will begin production of its electric vehicles from 2025 in England and Wales. The company plans to start with sports cars and urban SUVs and gradually expand its lineup. Now the brand is run by a billionaire who bypassed the owner of Uralchem Mazepin in the fight for the Formula 1 team
British premium car brand Aston Martin will begin producing electric vehicles in the UK from 2025, billionaire Aston Martin Lagonda executive chairman Lawrence Stroll told the Financial Times.
According to him, sports cars with batteries will be produced at the Aston Martin plant in Gaydon (England), and at the plant in St. Athan (Wales) they will start assembling electric SUVs – “city SUVs”. The UK plans to completely end sales of non-hybrid gasoline and diesel vehicles by 2030. But Aston Martin will continue to produce them beyond this deadline – for connoisseurs, Stroll said.
At the same time, the company will expand its range of vehicles with hybrid and electric motors. A hybrid version of the brand’s first SUV, the DBX model, is expected in 2021, other hybrid models in 2023, and the first fully electric from 2025.
“We’re head and shoulders above our competitors thanks to our partnership with Mercedes,” says Stroll. Mercedes owns 20% of the company. The billionaire is not so far from the truth: Ferrari planned to produce electric cars from 2030, and McLaren and Lamborghini did not name specific dates. Bentley in its plans was guided by the middle of the decade, writes FT. Anyone can build cars, Stroll says, but only Aston Martin will have “our beautiful body, our suspension, our aerodynamics, our individual interiors.” Mercedes, which now supplies engines and its technology to Aston Martin, could be a battery supplier as well.
Stroll in 2020 led a consortium of investors whose investments helped keep Aston Martin afloat. The company has been in financial trouble since its failed IPO in 2018. Stroll now claims that the company sold all sports car bids through September and July for the DBX.
Stroll has renamed the Formula 1 team Racing Point into Aston Martin in 2021. He bought this team in 2018, then it was called Force India. It was also claimed by the Russian company Uralkali, which is headed by Dmitry Mazepin, a former member of the Russian Forbes list. Stroll then also headed a consortium of investors and won the rivalry with Uralkali. The Russian company was unhappy with this and tried to challenge the sale in court, but was unsuccessful.