Why Hallmark appointment is a huge coup for Aston Martin

Adrian Hallmark’s decision to join Aston Martin later this year after six high-achieving years as CEO of Bentley is just about the only move he could have made that could universally be regarded as a huge positive.

Hallmark has created a culture of style, excellence and high organisation at Bentley that promises to translate perfectly to Aston, now that outgoing Aston CEO Amedeo Felisa has put its impressive collection of new products on the rails. Hallmark will burnish the image, inspire the dealers, charm the clientele - and doubtless put a much-needed few quid on the share price.

Big plaudits must surely go to big boss Lawrence Stroll, who seems to have pulled off a minor miracle in a) attracting Hallmark, b) arranging for him to leave the Volkswagen Group amid praise, not rancour, and c) managing to get him working on his vital new tasks within a few months. Just the fact of his appointment will lift the whole company.

It’s genuinely difficult to imagine what move could have been more effective than this at showing off Aston’s seriousness about the future - or convincing us that the exalted targets Stroll & Co set some time ago, which seemed unattainable, can truly be hit.

Steve Cropley

Title: Editor-in-chief

Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business.

Cropley, who regards himself as the magazine’s “long stop”, has seen many changes since Autocar was a print-only affair, but claims that in such a fast moving environment he has little appetite for looking back.

He has been surprised and delighted by the generous reception afforded the My Week In Cars podcast he makes with long suffering colleague Matt Prior, and calls it the most enjoyable part of his working week.