AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE TALK FROM THE TOP Crunch time Aston Martin CEO counts on first SUV to return struggling brand to profit Meet the boss ❚ NAME: Andy Palmer ❚ TITLE: Aston Martin President and CEO ❚ AGE: 56 ❚ MAIN CHALLENGE: Photo: Bloomberg Delivering Aston Martin's first SUV on time and to standards exceeding those of rivals already on the market. By the middle of the 2020s all of our cars will have a hybrid offering. A ston Martin has just unveiled the DBX How important is the DBX? SUV, a vehicle that will be crucial to Every car we launch is important because the company's survival after lower-than- of the way the business runs. But in terms expected demand for its core sports of changing the company so that we adcars pushed it to losses in the second dress each of the luxury clusters, this is and third quarters. CEO Andy Palmer really important. So far we have replaced has had to increase the company's debt the core GT and sports cars -- our historito cover the DBX's final development cal ground. This is the first model that exahead of deliveries in mid-2020. Palmer pands the portfolio. told Automotive News Europe Corre- How many can you sell in a full year? spondent Nick Gibbs that he is confident About 4,000 a year with a peak of 5,000. the SUV will win the company new customers and pave the way for the prom- What does that mean for 2020 sales? ised rollout of a mid-engine sports car I can't give forward-looking data but we and the Lagonda luxury electric brand. are about 6,000 to 6,500 units this year. 4 www.autonewseurope.com We will not have a full year of DBX but we've more sport cars coming: the Vantage roadster arrives next year, and the mid-engine car [the Vanquish, comes in 2021]. The DBX will represent the largest-single volume. Where will DBX customers come from? Today more than 70 percent of Aston Martin customers have an SUV in the garage, so the hard work is already done. We just need to convert those people from their daily driver into an Aston Martin SUV. They are coming out of Porsche Cayennes and Range Rovers. What we are looking to do is cream In Partnership with 2019http://www.autonewseurope.com