Andy Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin, told Arab News that VIP customers in the region were invited to the company’s headquarters at the beginning of the selling process more than a year ago, and were shown the DB11 confidentially. The company put their orders in the system early enough so they did not have to wait for delivery.
Dismissing the negative effect of Brexit, he said it is good for his company. “As an 80 percent export company Aston Martin benefits from a depreciated sterling against the dollar and the euro,” he said. He believes there is still “emotional attachment” to the fact that Aston Martin is made in Britain.
The company is building another factory in Wales and will create its first luxury sport utility vehicle (SUV) — the DXB — there within three years.
Palmer said that his “Second Century” plan was working. Under the plan, the company will launch a new car every year for the next seven years and a new derivate will also be launched every nine months.
Aston Martin also started another model line of mid-engined hypercars, the first of which is named Valkyrie. So the future Aston Martin will have the sports GTs, SUVs, the mid-engine halo line and the Lagonda. The company is also working on an electric Rapide.
He admitted there is scope for improving Aston Martin’s performance in the Middle East and confirmed that Lagonda sells better in the region and that 60 percent of the sales are bespoke cars by “Q.” He summed up Aston Martin as an independent British company that makes beautiful cars.
VIPs do not wait for delivery!
VIPs do not wait for delivery!
Price cuts drive sales of Saudi-owned electric car
- Lucid delivers more vehicles than expected as it prepares to launch luxury new Gravity SUV
RIYADH: The majority Saudi-owned electric car maker Lucid delivered more vehicles than expected in the past three months as price cuts helped boost demand.
The company delivered 2,394 cars from April to June 30, above analysts’ predictions of 1,940.
Lucid produced 3,838 vehicles in the first six months of 2024 and needs to make more than 5,162 cars by end of the year to meet its annual output forecast of 9,000. It made 8,428 cars in 2023.
“I think at this point everything is shaping for them to achieve that,” said Andres Sheppard, senior equity analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. Lucid will produce and deliver more cars in the second half of the year because of the usual seasonal effects on the industry, he said.
Demand for electric vehicles has grown more slowly than expected pace in the past year, under pressure from high borrowing costs, economic uncertainties and consumer preference for hybrid alternatives.
Lucid and the market leader Tesla have responded by slashing prices and offering incentives such as cheaper financing options. Lucid, which is 60-per-cent owned by the Public Investment Fund, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, cut the price of its flagship Air model by 10 percent in February.
Its new Gravity SUV model, a rival for Tesla's Model X, goes into production this year and will cost about $80,000.
