High levels of personalisation have pushed the average price of an Aston Martin to a record £213,000, but the firm has no plans to branch out into the luxury car market.
The company had to planned to launch luxury cars under previous CEO Andy Palmer, who was working on plans to revive the Lagonda marque as an all-electric rival to Bentley.
Lagonda was planned to offer a super-saloon and an SUV, which were previewed by concept cars in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Palmer said at the time the cars were aimed at “tech entrepreneurs, the guys who drive Teslas“, rather than traditional Bentley and Rolls-Royce customers. “It’s in the same high-net-worth market but not aimed at the same customer,” he added.
Following Palmer’s departure in 2020, the Lagonda project went quiet, and it was understood to have been shelved in favour of investment into Aston Martin’s existing sports cars, the launch of the DBX SUV and development of the Valkyrie hypercar.
And now chairman Lawrence Stroll has said he has no ambitions to take Aston Martin into the luxury market.
“We think there’s enough luxury in our sports cars and SUV, so we’re not considering launching a less-performance, higher-luxury car,” he said.
He said the firm can cater to this market effectively already, “particularly with the increased level of personalisation” that it now offers across its range and the ultra-luxurious ‘Q’ dealerships it’s opening worldwide.
As for the Lagonda project concocted by “the previous management”, Stroll confirmed: “That idea is completely dead and has absolutely nothing to do with our electric vehicle plan.”
Aston Martin is forging ahead with plans to launch a range of electric cars, though, beginning with a high-riding, quad-motor GT in 2026.