As I write these lines, X (the artist formerly known as Twitter) is full of memes and jokes about Fernando Alonso and the vibrations of the AMR26. I don’t know what happened to him in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. I don’t even know if, given what I’ve seen, He will at least be able to run on Sunday.
The only thing that is clear is that Aston Martin is a meme factory. They have kept Fernando Alonso, capable of selling us the impossible. They have signed Adrian Newey, one of the most successful people in the history of Formula 1.
And the preseason is summarized in that, in a year that Honda powers the team, Fernando Alonso has been seen walking with a Toyota Yaris through Monaco.
Did you think it couldn’t be worse?
Well, tell that to those who bought Aston Martin shares in 2018.
Today they have depreciated 99%.
The company’s fate hangs by a thread, mired in debts that seem like a slab that is impossible to lift. No clear candidates for purchase. With Lawrence Stroll, owner of the Formula 1 team and endorsement for his son to drive one of the cars, buying the company’s image to be able to use its name, colors and logo in the future. You can do it no matter what.
And that’s not good at all.
A life on the brink of bankruptcy
The story of Aston Martin is a story of survival.
Actually, few luxury companies can say that they have not encountered serious viability problems throughout their history. Ferrari, who sees the world burning around him and who seems untouchable on his throne, It was saved by Fiat in 1969. Lamborghini did not find stability until it was bought by the Volkswagen Group. Bugatti, which is also inside, it’s a money losing machine.
And if we look at the British, Jaguar is in a process of reinvention. Lotus was bought by the Chinese conglomerate Geely and today little remains of what it was. McLaren is not much better than Aston Martin.
As Raymond Blancafort explains in The Vanguardbarely 10 years had passed when Aston Martin encountered its first bankruptcy. After a first adventure focused on the world of competition, it was in the 1930s when the management at that time began to focus the company on street sports cars.
Things would not improve later and David Brown, a businessman, would be the one to buy the company after World War II, assume the accumulated debts and pay his own tribute. And since then, Aston Martin sports cars have the letters DB associated with them.
As the decades passed, the brand maintained two things: fame and debt. While James Bond rode around in his sports cars, the company’s buying and selling games marked the future. To the point that the company came to form Premier Groupthe umbrella under which Ford held Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo… and Aston Martin.
Things would not end well (Ford announced historic losses) and In 2007 it changed hands again to go to David Richards, who already controlled the future of the competing company, with the support of an American banker and two Kuwaiti groups. In 2013, Mercedes joined the company with a small participation and the objective of sharing knowledge and developments.
In 2020 Lawrence Stroll arrived.
A more than complicated crisis
We have stopped along the way because the arrival of Lawrence Stroll marked a before and after. In 2018, this Canadian businessman creates the Racing Point group and buys the Force India Formula 1 team. The following year, he formed a team with the Mexican driver Sergio Pérez and a debutant: his son Lance Stroll.
It would not be until 2021 when Racing Point became the Aston Martin Formula 1 teamwhich remains in a completely separate structure from the car manufacturer. But how do you get to this point?
At the same time that Lawrence Stroll was taking his first steps in Formula 1, the Canadian acquired 16.7% of the vehicle manufacturer. The agreement included that the Formula 1 team would inherit its name. For this, Stroll paid almost 240 million dollars and a rights issue of 417.5 million dollars was carried out, which already anticipated that his weight in the company would continue to increase.
The promise was to get Aston Martin out of a complicated situation. With less than 6,000 cars sold, the company announced losses of more than 120 million euros, 89% more than the previous year. Stroll arrived with the intention of turning the Aston Martin DBX, its future SUV, into a luxury product. Yes to Porsche had rescued him with the Cayenneif Lamborghini was producing the Urus, Aston Martin would regain momentum with the DBX.
The truth is that the car is being a failure. The British SUV has never had enough traction and nor did it have the advantage of the Cayenne or the Urus, which share a platform and development with other Volkswagen Group cars, which helps reduce the risks. The projections of selling 5,000 cars annually have remained at 1,000 units placed on the market each year.
With the Aston Martin DBX in free fall, the next ones to jump off the cliff were investors. Since going public in 2018, the shares have fallen 99% and The company now costs just over 400 million euros. last summer Liverpool invested more money in signings than what the entire company costs.
Although the SUV has not found its place in the market, the DBX has not been the only thing that has failed. In 2017 the development of the Rapide Ewhich was supposed to be a rival to the Tesla Model S. The project ended up being canceled for a very simple reason that was pointed out by Tom Stacey, a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University who worked for the company at BBC: In all parameters, the Aston Martin was a worse car than the Tesla.
Not only that. Time has shown that, at this time, there is no audience for a purely electric car and supercar approach. Although Ferrari has brought forward the Luce, everything indicates that it is betting on another type of audience. Lamborghini has canceled its electric recently and Porsche is suffering as the years go by despite a very good start for the Taycan.
Aston Martin thought an SUV would save them, like Porsche, and it failed. He thought an electric car would save them. And it failed. He thought he could sell limited edition hypercars. and it failed
Aston Martin then invested its knowledge in hypercars that were delayed, which have arrived loaded with reliability problems. and that, directly, does not seem to have found its audience. We talk about Valhalla and Valkyrie. Now the company has to lay off 20% of the workforce.
The losses reported when Lawrence Stroll arrived now appear minimal. Last year, the company lost about $675 million and debt is believed to be about $1.9 billion. Stroll, who is estimated to own 33% of the company, has self-sold the use of the company’s images and logos for use in Formula 1 for just 50 million pounds.
The move indicates that Stroll could be thinking about leaving the company but wants to ensure that, whatever happens, his Formula 1 team remains called Aston Martin. That is to say, the company is worth more for its container than for its content.
The big question is who could take over the reins of the company. Mercedes owns 9% of it but has AMG to play in the luxury market and is going through difficult times with the abandonment of the Chinese market and an electric car that does not quite start. Nor his tumultuous collaboration with McLaren in the past they invite optimism.
Geely has a 17% stake but already took over Lotus a long time ago and has not achieved good results. He tried with the British to convert a niche brand, much loved by purists and equally unprofitable, into an electric sports car company with little success. Plus, he has to deal with a Polestar that loses money and a Volvo that is choking on the electric transition.
At least, if it is to put money in, 19% of the company belongs to Saudi Arabia, that financing, at least, does not seem to be the most worrying.
The future doesn’t look good. Investors do not trust the brand, the company barely sells 5,000 cars a year (Ferrari sold more than 13,000 in 2025) and Valhalla, which had to be a before and after, has sold just over 500 units.
Right now, Aston Martin is worth the same as what you pay in the Premier League for a good striker and two centre-backs.
Photo | Aston Martin
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