Aston Martin delays its first electric car, Lagonda sub-brand declared ‘dead’

Aston Martin has delayed the arrival of its first electric car citing a lack of customer demand, while also re-iterating it has cancelled plans for its Rolls-Royce-rivalling Lagonda sub-brand.

The British car maker previously announced plans for two electric vehicles launching from 2025 – a sports car and an SUV – and for every main-line Aston Martin model to offer the option of hybrid or electric power by 2026.

Now Aston Martin has pushed back the introduction of its first electric vehicle to 2026, confirming it will continue to offer petrol engines until they can no longer be fitted to new cars – without synthetic fuels – in the European Union from 2035.

"The consumer demand [for electric vehicles], certainly at an Aston Martin price point, is not what we thought it was going to be two years ago,” said executive chairman Lawrence Stroll, the car maker’s largest shareholder, as quoted by Reuters.

Aston Martin previously built several prototypes of an electric sedan – the Rapide E – which would have been its first production battery-powered vehicle with a limited run of 155 examples, but it was cancelled in 2020.

In the latest push-back of electric Aston Martins, Mr Stroll said the company has seen stronger demand for plug-in hybrid models, with its customer base wanting “some electrification … but [to] still have the sports car smell and feel and noise.”

That bodes well for the brand, having announced plug-in hybrid models across its line-up by 2026 using Mercedes-Benz technology.

The German car maker owns 9.7 per cent of Aston Martin and supplies engines and technology for its cars.

Mercedes-Benz announced in February 2024 it would pull back on electric vehicle targets of its own, citing similar lower-than-expected customer demand.

In June 2023, Aston Martin sold a 3.7 per cent stake in the company to US electric-car maker Lucid to help co-develop a platform for high-performance electric sports cars and SUVs.

The British brand also received £9 million ($AU11.4 million) in government funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) in October 2023 to fund electrification projects.

In December 2023, it began a recruitment drive for 400 additional staff at its UK facilities in Gaydon, England and St Athan, Wales.

Deliveries of the first production Aston Martin plug-in hybrid – the mid-engine Valhalla hypercar – are expected to commence in 2024.

The Valhalla uses a 4.0-litre twin-turbo Mercedes-derived V8 and three electric motors to produce 744kW and reach a top speed of 349km/h.

The return of the Lagonda sub-brand has also been cancelled yet again, following the abandonment of a previous plan to reintroduce the Rolls-Royce ultra-luxury rival in 2020 following the departure of CEO Andy Palmer.

A luxury brand owned by Aston Martin since 1947, the Lagonda name was used on a flagship sedan sold between 1974 and 1990, and most recently on the 2016 Tarif sedan.

Mr Palmer’s vision was for Lagonda to sell only high-end electric vehicles.

Tobias Moers, who took over from Mr Palmer as Aston Martin CEO in 2020, said the company was committed to a reborn Lagonda division – but it would no longer be an electric-only brand.

Stroll – who replaced Mr Moers with former Ferrari boss Amadeo Felisa in 2022 after the former AMG boss’ surprise resignation – confirmed Lagonda plans have now been scrapped, according to Autocar.

“We think there’s enough luxury in our sports cars and SUV, so we’re not considering launching a less-performance, higher-luxury car,” Stroll told Autocar.

“That idea [Lagonda] is completely dead and has absolutely nothing to do with our electric vehicle plan.”