Shares in Aston Martin plunged by as much as 14pc on Wednesday after the struggling luxury carmaker revealed losses almost doubled in the first three months of the year.
The company said it had sunk £139m into the red during the opening quarter, as losses rose almost 90pc compared to £74m a year ago.
This stemmed from a 10pc fall in overall sales to £268m, fuelled by a 63pc drop in the number of SUVs sold to dealerships.
So the dash for volume with the DBX isn’t working then. Or, as we might put it, brands are less expandable than some are willing to bet they are.
Being known for really top notch two seater sporties doesn’t quite carry over to the sensible car for the second wife or, perhaps, her potential replacement in training.
Bit of a crowded sector, what with Bentayga, Cullinan, Urus and old stager Range Rover which previously had it all. And wasn’t there a Ferrari planned too which I haven’t kept up with?
However, if there’s some field full of unwanted DBXs somewhere around Gaydon I’ll take one off their hands free.
Alfa Romero has gone all in SUV.
I wonder how they’re getting on.
Jaguar made the same mistake with the X-Type. It’s a pity, because I’m on my second X Type (diesel this time), and it’s a reasonable car, nicely laid out, comfortable, reasonably economic (although when was a Jag cheap to run?). Isn’t ULEZ compliant, which is a good thing, because the car protects me from the slightest inclination to visit the Londonistan shithole.
Other sports car manufacturers, notably Porsche, have managed to stretch the brand into SUVs. It’s not as if AM has been selling large numbers of sports cars and making lots of money: it’s always on the brink but so far there’s always been someone willing to take a punt on it for its presumed glamour.
I think the DBX is after the segment above the Porker Cayenne and the Range Rovers. The thing costs about £200K. It’s for the people who have promoted themselves over those who like common brands like Porsche and I suppose BMW and M-B SUVs. There aren’t many of those people.
In other news Jaguar is planning not to make any more ICE cars or SUVs. I wonder whether they will be making any cars at all if that plan proceeds.
It strikes me that car makers are becoming increasingly absurd. My favourite car currently is the utterly ridiculous and supremely gangsta LR Defender with its sinister tinted windows. If I’m corect then a lot of drug dealers shop at Waitrose and presumably the only time these cars go off-road is when there’s a need to dump dead bodies in the woods.
“If I’m corect then a lot of drug dealers shop at Waitrose and presumably the only time these cars go off-road is when there’s a need to dump dead bodies in the woods.”
Those will be the ones with the power operated back hoe option.
I’ve never really understood SUV’s The body plan is neither here nor there. Oversized but little usable room in them. Far better to have an estate. (I’m now thinking about buying my Voyager back from the bloke I sold it to. I do miss the 8×4 loadbed when the seats were folded into the floor. And the 7 seats when they were up. I should never have bought that Renault puddle jumper)
4WD? For the places people take them, if they need 4WD to do it they can’t effing drive. I happily rallied RWD’s through all the shit could be thrown at them. And if you want to go where you really do need 4WD, you need something can brush inconvenient trees out of the way, not a hatchback with delusions of grandeur.
As far as “The dash for volume” goes I recall, years ago, John Harvey Jones recommending that Morgan abandon their decades old hand-built methods of working, but customers didn’t want to be able the order and collect a new car within a month or so. The whole appeal of “Niche” manufacturers is knowing that your friends know you’re prepared to wait YEARS for your “individual” motor, and pay substantially more than you would for a Ford or Vauxhall, etc…
“Far better to have an estate”
That’s getting rather difficult if you want to buy a new one. Even Volvo have stopped making them, and gone over to SUV’s (stupid milk float ones at that)…
BiS. I don’t know about the UK or Europe, but in the States SUVs are a result of fuel economy laws that exempted trucks. SUVs here are classed as trucks effectively enabling one to still have a big station wagon that the automakers were otherwise discouraged from making because it would pull their fleets’ average fuel economy down. And, I suppose, if you put on your jeans, flannel shirt, and hiking boots you could project a certain image.
We pay attention to the car market only every 15 – 20 years when we need a new one – but not brand new, obvs. We buy on (i) ease of getting in and out, (ii) room: leg room, head room, shoulder room, and (iii) petrol-engined.
Last time it took us nearly a year to find what we wanted, and that was by fluke. Even then it’s diesel-engined, but built before lots of nuisance equipment was added that makes a diesel-engined vehicle extra unsuitable for lots of short journeys.
We don’t care a button about mpg because our annual mileage is low. We don’t care about colour, or looks, or any such rubbish. I suppose in future it would be convenient if it had a machine gun turret.
@TD
As far as I know, SUV’s across Europe are registered as cars. But car choice has largely become a fashion statement & willy-waving exercise rather than for practical use.
@TMB
If I’m corect then a lot of drug dealers shop at Waitrose and presumably the only time these cars go off-road is when there’s a need to dump dead bodies in the woods
Because people who go off-road have older proper Defenders or Inios Grenadier
I do agree new Defender does look good for an SUV