Chinese Help for Struggling Aston Martin?

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Maybe it won’t be needed, what with a new sport-utility vehicle on the way, but Aston Martin’s deflated stock price and profit dive has the British automaker in search of a financial parachute. By that, we mean investors who can pump a little cash into the company while boosting shareholder confidence.

After a disappointing year, Aston Martin needs to chart a path to better finances, and a Chinese company that’s no stranger to endangered European brands might just be that sugar daddy.

According to the Financial Times, Chinese auto giant Geely is interested in buying a stake in the automaker, which first listed shares back in 2018. Since that 19-pound ($25ish) debut, Aston’s stock price has sunk below 4 pounds. The automaker began the year by issuing another profit warning.

According to sources with knowledge of the matter, Geely is already performing the necessary groundwork for a big share buy. Just how large of one is unknown. Last month, it was reported that Aston was busy courting potential investors.

Geely has fingers in many pies. The conglomerate began the previous decade by purchasing Volvo Cars; it ended the turbulent period by buying a controlling stake in British sports car maker Lotus and entering into a 50:50 joint venture with Daimler to preserve the Smart brand. Over time, Geely slowly amassed a roughly 10-percent stake in Daimler, too.

The company’s cash and relatively hands-off presence helped Volvo back from the brink and allowed Lotus to start talking about offering a full range of vehicles. Planning for those models is already well underway. Should Geely be angling for a major stake, the benefits to Aston Martin could be many. In terms of product, access to the Geely family’s electrification bin would help Aston the most, what with European automakers facing newly stringent emissions standards this year.

[Image: Aston Martin]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Piratethecat Piratethecat on Jan 14, 2020

    That’s an expensive looking new Escape.

  • Slap Slap on Jan 14, 2020

    While I'd like to see it come to the US, I just don't see it happening considering the lack of success of the TourX and Alltrack.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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