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Aston Martin secures financial lifeline, shakes up model plans

While electric cars have been put on the backburner, the automaker will have its own F1 team from 2021.


Aston Martin has secured £500 million ($967 million) in new funding to help see it through its current "challenging trading conditions".

Overnight the automaker confirmed a group of investors, led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, will purchase a new allotment of shares for £182 million ($352 million), giving them a 16.7 per cent stake in the company.

After Aston Martin publishes its preliminary financial results for 2019, it will launch a new rights issue supported by existing major shareholders and Stroll's consortium. This will see Stroll's stake in the luxury car maker rise to around 20 per cent, and a further £318 million ($615 million) pumped into the struggling firm.

As part of the deal announced overnight, Stroll will become chairman of Aston Martin and have the ability to name a further board member.

Aston Martin's board voted for Stroll ahead of a rival bid from Chinese car maker Geely, which was also reportedly looking to secure a technical partnership to help its Lotus subsidiary.


Changes

Stroll owns a controlling stake in the Racing Point Formula One team. Aston Martin will gain a stake in the outfit, and it will be rebranded as Aston Martin F1 from the 2021 season.

With the F1 season due to kick off in March in Melbourne, Aston Martin will continue its sponsorship with the Red Bull team for this year.

The two companies will continue to work together until the Valkyrie mid-engined hypercar goes into production later this year.

Elsewhere on the product front, Aston Martin will concentrate on beginning customer deliveries of the DBX crossover by the second quarter of this year. It will also launch the Vantage Roadster around the same time.

Beyond this, 2022 looks to be a busy year with the company planning to launch both the Valhalla hypercar and the more mainstream mid-engine Vanquish.

What won't be happening in 2022 is the the relaunch of Lagonda as the company's fully electric brand, which has been put off until "no earlier than 2025".

Work on the all-electric Rapide E has also been paused and put into review even though development "is substantially complete". The EV was originally scheduled for launch this year.

Aston Martin's electrification plans are now concentrated around a "fuel efficient, modular V6 engine with hybrid capabilities", which will be used to ensure its core vehicles are available with hybrid variants from the mid-2020s.

In addition to changing its model plans, the automaker is looking to make staff cuts and reduce its property needs as part of its drive to save a further £10 million ($19 million) per year.

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