Aston Martin’s future electrified vehicles will have Mercedes-Benz powertrains when they go into production in St Athan in a few years.
The technical deal is part of a massive investment by Daimler taking a 20% stake in the British luxury car-maker over the next three years.
The two have been working together since 2013 when MB supplied petrol engines to the sports cars made in Gaydon and this year’s new DBX SUV built in South Wales.
St Athan will be the brand’s centre of EV manufacturing with a new Lagonda saloon but AM’s original plan to develop its own EV powertrain looks sidelined by the MB investment and well advanced new technology.
In August, former CEO of Mercedes-AMG performance division, Tobias Moers, took over at AM and it was rumoured at the time this was a precursor to a bigger involvement by Daimler, which has previously held a 2.6% stake. With the investment, Daimler will be able to put a non-executive director on the AM board.
With the launch of the DBX this spring, losses at AM have slowed and latest figures show a drop of £29M in Q3 compared to a profit a the same time last year of £43M. It could have been worse if AM had not embarked on a cost cutting exercise and rebalancing stock.
However its continuing investment programme means it could be spending £300M annually over the next five years.
In a statement confirming the Daimler investment and MB technology support, AM said it is looking at producing approximately 10,000 cars and profits of £500M in four or five years.
Mercedes-Benz has developed a scaleable EV platform and powertrain which it has named the EQ series and that will comprise saloons, hatchbacks and SUVs/ 4x4s, and is ideal for the AM model range of sports cars, luxury saloons and SUV series. It promises over 400 miles range between rapid charges.
