Warwickshire's Aston Martin lowers market expectations

External factors within the global automotive industry, including supply chain disruption and weak demand in China, are now impacting Aston Martin's volume outlook for the remainder of 2024 the luxury carmaker has said.

Wholesale volumes for the third quarter of the year are expected to be below current market expectations, and the company has cut production volumes.

Adrian Hallmark, the company's new Chief Executive who took over last month, said: ""Having been with the company for a month I am even more convinced than before in its growth potential. The team at Aston Martin has done an exceptional job in launching a fully reinvigorated core range of vehicles over the last 18 months.

"Near perfect execution was required to meet the Company's ambitious 2024 plan. However, it has become clear that we need to take decisive action to adjust our production volumes for 2024 given a combination of supplier disruption, the weak macroeconomic environment in China and a proactive decision to strategically re-align our production plans to optimise efficiency and achieve a more balanced delivery cadence in the future."

Lawrence Stroll, Executive Chairman Aston Martin added: "When the Yew Tree Consortium made its significant investment in Aston Martin in 2020, we did this with a long-term view of the necessary commitment and turnaround required to unlock the enormous value potential of this iconic brand. I remain steadfast in this view and now, with the calibre and experience Adrian Hallmark brings, I am extremely confident in the Company's ability to realise the full potential of its ultra-luxury high performance strategy."

Full year wholesale volumes for 2024 are now expected to decline by high single digit percentage compared with FY 2023, with gross margins now expected to be modestly below 40 per cent.