In a stellar career that he insists has “years to run”, Aston Martin design chief Marek Reichman has led the creation of more than 50 Aston Martin and Lagonda models in 19 years.
It’s an achievement like no other in the marque’s 111-year history, yet while unique, it is just one of a suite of compelling reasons why Autocar is delighted to present Reichman with the 2024 Sturmey Award for innovation.
Perhaps the most obvious and striking reason is the unfailingly progressive nature of Reichman’s work, especially since he has maintained this upward trajectory under no fewer than five Aston Martin CEOs, all diverse in style, emphasis and character.
Starting at a point where the company was selling two decent but slightly steady sports models (DB9 and V8 Vantage), Reichman has more than doubled the model range, has launched a family of stratospherically priced special models, has built a bigger and much more versatile Aston Martin design group and, with some boldness, has opened the company to unfamiliar but much-needed new product types.
Most of all, he has upped greatly the built-in guts and determination of Aston Martins and unashamedly injected them with chutzpah.
Astons may once have been characterised as well-mannered GTs for people of breeding, but Reichman reckoned they needed to embody performance and capability, too, and get more youthful. The beautiful, muscular shapes he has devised since his arrival have really given Aston Martin’s chassis and powertrain people something to live up to.
The rule-breaking DBX SUV, launched four years ago and recently updated, now accounts for an indispensable 50% of Aston sales and has been every bit as successful as Porsche’s Cayenne or Taycan at carrying the maker’s brand values forward – without being an actual sports car or a GT.
It’s hard to believe these days that straying from those old-school values was ever a concern.
Along the way, Reichman and his team have embraced revolutionary techniques and materials and are diving into electrification with a gusto that would have baffled the traditionalists of yore.
Best of all is the way they have boosted design quality: today’s Astons are viewed with the same admiration and awe as marques that were once thought superior, such as Bentley, Ferrari and Lamborghini.
One of the cornerstones of Reichman’s philosophy for ultra-luxury cars is that “customers buy beauty”.
He sees producing beautiful, powerful, characterful designs as an essential element in Aston Martin’s complex financial rebuild that is still very much a work in progress if the financial press is to be believed.
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When are they going to fire this hack? The only thing he's good at is tweaking Ian Callum and Henrik Fisker's designs, but he's terrible at anything new. The Vantage had that terrible grill that was so bad they had to come out with a completely new front end. The interiors of the DB 11 and DBX were like any luxury car that someone just slapped a bunch of extra chrome and leather to. The DB 11 had absolutely no soul to drive. The guy needs to go.
A question I've been asking for a long time. Through many different rescue packages where more and more money have been poured in to Aston Martin to keep it afloat, but they don't get rid of the basic problem they have. Reichman designs don't sell.
But even Autocar now delete posts that state the obvious.
Truth is, the best times for Aston were with those Ian Callum cars, and they lived well into the Reichman years. He's been standing on the toes of great designers. You can't keep relying upon the same failed designer and expect a different result. It isn't going to happen. But you can find a new competent designer and try again with him or her.
Mr Reichman has had design hits and misses while at Aston Martin. The newest Aston Martin models seem to be a major return to form. I don't know whether some of the misses were due to errors by previous senior management or bad design decisions that were left unchallenged.
The man and his team consistently deliver some of the best looking cars across several categories and have done for years now. Well deserved.