The Times today......20 Feb 2026 19:17
aston martin warns of bigger losses than forecast after falling sales
guy taylor•4 min read
aston martin lagonda has warned it will report a larger than expected annual loss on the back of falling sales and pressure from us trade tariffs.
the struggling british luxury carmaker said it expected full-year adjusted pre-tax loss to be worse than a previous low-end consensus of £184 million in the latest blow to the turnaround plans of lawrence stroll, the canadian billionaire and majority owner of the company.
in an effort to shore up its finances, aston martin will sell the naming rights to its formula 1 racing team “in perpetuity,” in a deal which is projected to net the company an extra £50 million. it had previously announced an extension to naming arrangements with its f1 team, operated by parent amr gp holdings, until 2055.
aston martin delivered 5,448 cars in 2025, down nearly 10 per cent from 6,030 the previous year as it warned of a “highly challenging trading environment” and fewer high margin special-edition deliveries.
the carmaker said it expected a “material improvement” in 2026 driven by improvements in its product mix, including roughly 500 deliveries of its valhalla model, the hybrid supercar that has been beset by production delays in recent times.
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aston martin told investors in october that 2025 would be another year of loss-making underperformance with annual sales down by nearly 10 per cent and further disruption to its valhalla model production. it had said that it expected to “improve towards break-even” alongside a “material” improvement in cashflow after burning through nearly £400 million in 2024.
aston martin executive chairman lawrence stroll in the paddock during f1 testing.
lawrence stroll, the canadian majority owner of aston martin
getty
the issues have been further compounded by president trump’s trade levies, which were declared illegal on friday by the us supreme court. they have been particularly damaging for aston martin as it does not make cars in the united states.
the manufacturer, based in ***don, warwickshire, resumed shipments to the us in june after a three-month pause, following an agreement between the uk and us governments that limited tariffs on 100,000 british-built cars per year to 10 per cent.
aston martin criticised the arrangement, however, stating that “the introduction of a us tariff quota mechanism adds a further degree of complexity and limits the group’s ability to accurately forecast for this financial year end and, potentially, quarterly from 2026 onwards.”
net debts reached about £1.4 billion as of october despite various restructurings and equity injections from new and existing shareholders including stroll, who is the leading shareholder via his yew tree consortium. other major stakehol
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