29 June 2023
Aston Martin shares have fallen as the accounts didn’t include sales volume targets; this omission is unlikely to have been an accident.
Aston’s enduring financial and economic woes have meant it has to rely upon third parties for technology and financing.
Share values bounced back with the announcement of an agreement recently struck, with Lucid Group getting approximately a 3.7% share in Aston.
Interestingly, Saudi Arabia’s PIF is a significant shareholder of both companies. The PIF is Aston’s second-largest shareholder.
Aston Martin also gets engine and EV technology from an agreement with Mercedes-Benz.
Aston plans its first hybrid car in 2024 and its first electric in 2025 and wants to offer every new model in an electric version by 2026.
The very high costs involved in moving across to electrification of its future motor cars is the apparent rationale for the deal.
Lucid is an electric car maker that has struggled amid a recession and price war with Tesla and showing a lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue.
Oh, the intrigues of high finance.
As a closing note, Aston Martin’s owner Lawrence Stroll feels he deserves a knighthood, having saved thousands of jobs while investing heavily in his F1 team’s infrastructure.
