Aston Martin will not launch its first electric car until at least 2033, according to boss Adrian Hallmark, and has a “roadmap” to ensure it can offer cars with V8 and V12 engines until least 2035.
Hallmark joined Aston Martin from Bentley in September 2024 and had previously suggested the firm would launch its first EV by 2030 – which was already a pushback from the 2027 date set by previous management.
However, speaking to select media including Autocar at the launch of Aston’s new Q London showroom in Mayfair (where the firm displayed the new DBX GT), he said that customer demand for EVs and legislation are “changing way faster than any car company can cope with”.
As a result, Aston Martin is facing a “spaghetti junction” of options and is now continually “stress-testing” scenarios for specific markets and regions. Because of that, the firm no longer has a set date for launching its first EV.
“We only need BEVs to be compliant for legislative reasons [in certain markets] just before 2035," said Hallmark. "I’m not going to give an absolute date, because it’s imprecise. It could be 2035, it might be 2033, but it’s in that three-year-window. It’s not 2031.”
Hallmark insisted that Aston Martin “are not BEV deniers but BEV delayers” and so in the period until 2035 (when current UK and EU legislation dictates that all new vehicles sold must be zero-emissions) “we will be predominantly ICE-based”.
Aston has secured a deal with Lucid for access to its EV technology and has a partnership with current engine supplier Mercedes-Benz. But because of that timeline, Hallmark said, the firm could delay major investment in EVs for the next three years.
“We have the deal with Lucid, and the interesting thing is, because we delayed, by the time we activate that deal, the technology that we will get is totally different to what we signed up the original contract for,” said Hallmark. “We're also working with Mercedes-Benz on powertrains and electronic systems [and that partnership] will be deepened.
“Looking at BEVs in the future, even if [we launch our first in] 2033, we've got three years where we can keep looking, keep thinking and keep evaluating different technologies and how they're changing, and the markets and the legislation. And it's only then that we would need to kick off investment. So today we've got very low-level investment, but it’s research and study, not even single-digit millions of investment.”
Major product revamp still incoming
Hallmark acknowledged that it has taken longer to turn around Aston than the 18 months he originally predicted, saying that once he began at the firm, “I found operational things that were worse than I thought”, particularly in terms of costs.
However, he said the key work to address that is done and “Aston now feels like a normal company”.
He acknowledged there's still a production and utilisation imbalance between the firm’s factories in Gaydon (which makes sports cars) and St Athan (SUVs) but said that will be addressed when a new generation of models is introduced in the coming years.
