RE: Interesting article from Financial Times26 Mar 2021 07:54
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Stroll’s confidence stems from a career talking up the value of objects until enough people want them. No stranger to hyperbole, the man who established a Ferrari dealership in Montreal now reckons Aston Martin produces “the most beautiful cars in the world”. Of his plan to use F1 to advertise them, he says: “It’s unbelievable, 100 million people, I believe, touch every Formula One race.” (F1 says its televised races worldwide last year had an average audience of 87 million.) Maths aside, what is certain is that the sport is watched by many people with at least a passing interest in supercars, if not the capability to acquire one.
“Some of those people will, either in the short term or in the long term, buy an Aston Martin,” says Jefferson Slack, Aston Martin F1’s commercial chief. “Our job is to make [the brand] younger, more dynamic, interesting, relevant, culturally relevant for lots of people.”
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https://www.ft.com/content/6d8d103e-6120-41c5-942a-95376c60f834
But the strategy also pushes Aston Martin in a different direction from its rivals. In October, Japanese carmaker Honda, which supplies engines to the Red Bull and Scuderia AlphaTauri teams, said it would pull out of F1 and focus on building zero-emissions technology instead.
Stroll points to a recent deal with Daimler to provide components to electrify Aston Martin roadcars. But the company’s fleet will probably switch to electric power more slowly than most of its luxury automotive rivals. While Stroll believes the majority of cars sold in future will be electric, at least some people will still want to buy cars that run on petrol or hybrid engines. Rather than going green at a faster clip, he hopes to overtake the opposition by exploiting the glamour of F1.
The plan has a snag: the need to win. After all, who will be convinced about spending £160,000 on one of Aston Martin’s new DBX sport utility vehicles or even £2.5m on its state-of-the-art Valkyrie hypercar, if his F1 team is stuck at the back of the grid?
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” says Stroll. “I did not do this — buy the business and invest so heavily to become executive chairman of Aston Martin — [to] tool around to be last.”
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