Earlier this year, things were looking up for Aston Martin. At the start of 2025, the company predicted it would finally turn a profit by December. This seemed like great news, considering seven years of previous losses. That sentiment didn’t last long. Once tariffs came into effect, Aston adjusted its expectations and said it would likely break even for the year, selling around the same 6,000 cars it did in 2024.
But that’s no longer the case. Things have taken a turn for the worse for the British luxury carmaker, going by its third-quarter update. It sold 12% fewer cars than expected in the last three months, and now predicts it’ll sell fewer cars in 2025 than it did in 2024. The company is also expecting to take a $147.5 million loss for the year before interest and taxes are taken into account. Oof.
What else is going on? An aluminum recycling plant in New York that supplies metal to Ford and a few other manufacturers suffered a bad fire last month. According to one report, it could impact the Blue Oval’s production for “months.” One expert said that this plant is where Ford gets the aluminum to build the F-150, America’s most popular vehicle.
Turning to a more positive subject, Jaguar-Land Rover is finally restarting some production facilities after a cyberattack knocked its systems offline for five straight weeks. This’ll come as a big relief not only to JLR itself, but also its suppliers, which have been pushed to near bankruptcy thanks to the disruption of cash flow.
In other news, Ferrari has built a new test track right next to its current Fiorano test track in Maranello, adjacent to the brand’s factory. It’s called the e-Vortex, and it took just four months to build. Those Italians sure can work fast.
Oh, Poor Aston
Not to fully replicate The Bishop’s words on Aston Martin from yesterday here, but it really does feel like the company is perpetually stuck in a state somewhere between solvency and bankruptcy. It’s one of the last legacy low-volume luxury carmakers not to have a parent company to provide financial assistance when things get tough. Though Mercedes supplies powertrains to Aston, it only owns about a 9.7% stake, according to Automotive News. Another 33% is owned by Yew Tree Investments, a collection of investors led by Canadian business tycoon Lawrence Stroll.
That lower yearly sales outlook means that deliveries will, specifically, “decline by mid-high single digit percentage when compared to the prior year,” according to stock filings published yesterday. At best, that means a 5% dip in sales, or around 300 fewer cars sold than in 2024. For a brand that sold just 6,030 vehicles all of last year, that’s a bigger hit than it sounds. Why is all of this happening? A few obvious reasons. From the filing:
The global macroeconomic environment facing the industry remains challenging. This includes uncertainties over the economic impact from U.S. tariffs and the implementation of the quota mechanism, changes to China’s ultra-luxury car taxes and the increased potential for supply chain pressures, particularly following the recent cyber incident at a major UK automotive manufacturer.
That “quota mechanism” mentioned above references the agreement put in place between America and the U.K., which lowers tariffs to 10% for the first 100,000 cars imported per year. It’s still not exactly clear how specific brands will qualify. And that “recent major cyber incident,” obviously, refers to JLR, which hasn’t built a car in over a month (more on that below).
Aston is also delaying the first deliveries of its mid-engine Valhalla supercar (pictured above)—a car that Autocar says is key to the brand’s turnaround to profitability. Though production is already underway, it now only plans to build 150 of the planned 999 units this year, citing delays “linked to completion of vehicle engineering and the finalization of mandatory homologation approvals.”
It’s not all doom and gloom in this filing; Aston says the ramp-up of Valhalla deliveries next year should result in the brand turning a profit in 2026.
A Fire At A Single Aluminum Plant Could Spell Danger For F-150 Production
Last month, an aluminum plant in Oswego, New York, operated by recycling firm Novelis, suffered what sounded like a pretty serious fire that, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, “leveled a key part” of the facility. Here’s why that might end up affecting production of America’s most popular passenger vehicle:
The plant’s operator, Atlanta-based Novelis, supplies about 40% of the aluminum sheet used by the auto industry in the U.S., according to industry analysts. Novelis said a major portion of its Oswego, N.Y., plant has been knocked offline until early next year.
Ford is the biggest user of the plant. Its F-150 pickup, the top-selling vehicle in the U.S. and the automaker’s main profit driver, is one of the industry’s biggest users of aluminum. The setback is severe enough that Ford will likely flag potential implications to investors when it discloses quarterly financial results later this month, according to people familiar with the matter.
“This represents a serious question for the production of F-150 because that’s the aluminum that comes out of Oswego,” said Kaustubh Chandorkar, an aluminum-industry analyst. Ford switched the F-150’s exterior to aluminum from steel a decade ago.
Ford said in a statement to WSJ that it uses several aluminum suppliers and that it’s working with Novelis to “minimize any potential disruptions.”
The Blue Oval isn’t the only manufacturer set back by this incident. The plant also supplies aluminum to companies like Toyota, Hyundai, and Stellantis, according to WSJ. Those brands gave similar statements to the publication about working with suppliers to mitigate delays.
This incident is a great example of how delicate today’s supply chains can be. One plant being knocked offline can have a cascading effect throughout the industry, causing issues that likely won’t right themselves for weeks.
JLR Finally Restarts (Some) Production Tomorrow
It’s been exactly 36 days since Jaguar Land Rover built a car. The shutdown has been costing the brand around $67 million per week, according to Reuters, which isn’t great for anyone involved. It sounds like the nightmare might finally be over, as the company plans to restart production at its assembly facilities in the U.K. and Slovakia this week. Here’s how vehicles will get rolling again:
The phased restart of JLR’s manufacturing operations begins at the Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre (EPMC), where the company builds engines, and its Battery Assembly Centre (BAC), both in the West Midlands, UK, on Wednesday 8 October 2025.
JLR colleagues will also begin to return on Wednesday to the company’s stamping operations in Castle Bromwich, Halewood and Solihull, UK, and other key areas of its Solihull vehicle production plant, such as its body shop, paint shop and its Logistics Operations Centre (LOC), which feeds parts to JLR’s global manufacturing sites.
This activity will be closely followed by vehicle manufacturing in Nitra, Slovakia, and restart of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport (MLA) production lines in the Solihull facility this week.
To keep suppliers happy (and prevent them from going bankrupt), JLR is also launching a new financing system that’ll see the brand deliver upfront sums to qualifying suppliers to aid with “cashflow in the near term.” This cash is coming from the U.K. government, which promised JLR a £1.5-billion loan late last month to assist with keeping suppliers afloat.
Ferrari Built A New Test Track Right Next To Its Old Test Track
Ferrari is expected to release details on its first-ever electric car later this month. But before it does that, it’s revealed a new test track called the Ferrari e-Vortex. Built in under four months, it’s located in what was, going by Google Maps, just an empty field directly west of the company’s iconic Fiorano test circuit in Maranello.
Unlike Fiorano, which is really just a race track, e-Vortex looks to be far closer to a real development course, complete with road markings, bankings, and parking spots. That means it’ll likely be used to calibrate driver assistance and safety systems, rather than to produce lap times. It sounds like that’s exactly Ferrari’s plan:
Designed to meet the most advanced development and validation requirements, the track allows for precise and repeatable testing in compliance with the highest safety standards. The track is divided into a series of sectors, each dedicated to a specific aspect of performance and driving pleasure: two wide curves with banking and longitudinal slope, a central straight, and handling curves dedicated to the study of dynamic behaviour. The special road surfaces – developed using Ferrari’s experience and expertise – allow for in-depth analysis of comfort and performance.
Ferrari e-Vortex will enable testing activities to be gradually transferred from the road to the track, ensuring an even more objective assessment of performance and faster identification of any anomalies. In addition, concentrating testing within the new testing area will help reduce the impact on traffic in the surrounding area.
The track is 1.1 miles long and comes complete with a 3,280-square-foot workshop to keep cars hidden when engineers need to do maintenance, checks, repairs, or adjustments on the fly. Sounds pretty fancy.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
James Bond’s 2002 film Die Another Day was the first 007 movie I saw in theaters, and still one of my favorites. It seems especially fitting to listen to Madonna’s Die Another Day, the song released alongside the film, seeing as how Aston is as close to death as it’s been in years.
The Big Question
Aston Martin has experienced seven bankruptcies in its 112-year history. Do you think it can avoid its eighth?
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Are there any 10-year-old Aston Martin’s on some dealer’s lot?
Asking for a friend.
Aston will survive so long as well-healed patrons like Lawrence Stroll want it to. It’s a rich boy’s toy, so normal economic rules do not apply.
I think the first Bond film I saw in a theater was Goldeneye, because I was too young to see the Moores in the theater and too busy with other things during the rather droll Dalton era. Or, wait, did I see View to a Kill maybe?
So long ago.
WTF Autotune Madonna Dreck. Seriously, that is an embarrassment. At least nowadays you don’t have to bother with a studio to create such trash, you can just type an AI prompt. Don’t think I don’t love Madonna. I do, but that is just sad.
Overcapacity vs. Redundancy, the impossible equation.
Not a chance in Hell Aston Martin doesn’t go bankrupt again.
I do hope they make it.
Maybe given all their history they’ll actually end up in Valhalla?
Another day in the ongoing shitshow.
The bad news: the International Court of Trade made a partially favorable ruling on the godforsaken tariffs. The good news: As the last paragraph of the linked article states, “None of these difficulties are insurmountable.”
https://www.justsecurity.org/116792/international-trade-court-flawed-ruling-tariffs/
My Magic 8 Ball isn’t working this morning and I can’t formulate the right questions for a tarot reading so that leads me only to hope Aston Martin survives. It would be sad to see James Bond drive something else, like a Jaaaag.
I dunno, the case could be made to put Bond in a Morgan.
In the books Bond originally drove a 1930 Blower Bentley. Soooo,,,,,,
Blower Bentley. Wasn’t that a Tenacious D song?
Don’t know, I’m old. From Google: Yes, Bentley can be used as a girl’s name, although it is a gender-neutral name of English origin meaning “meadow with coarse grass”. No comment.
Tenacious D made a song called “Fuck her Gently”. I’m all about the low brow humour.
Great ideas! I’ve never read the original books, so it’s time to stop by Z-Library.
I seem to recall him driving Bimmer’s during part of Brosnan’s tenure.
Aston’s biggest problem is their grille shape doesn’t scale to the big-grille look well and a convex pattern doesn’t help, giving most of the line the look of an anglerfish designed by Aardman Animation.
The DBX caught a stylistic lucky break when Chevrolet chose to take the Equinox in a boxier direction rather than upsize the Trax design language.
“ In addition, concentrating testing within the new testing area will help reduce the impact on traffic in the surrounding area.”
This stuck out to me. I wonder how much ‘impact to traffic’ was tolerated because they were Ferrari, but wore out as time went on. With the entirety of my knowledge of Italian roadways coming from Jezzah, Hamster, and Captain Slow, I believe speed limits act more as suggestions, but a Ferrari could terrorize the place, nonetheless.
I think it is a good and well-thought out move on Ferrari’s part.
I think Aston is likely in its best position to avoid its eighth than it has been in years but the tariffs but it relies on its investors not pulling out and the tariff issue to stabilize.
The DB12 and vantage are both on new platforms and look fantastic as compared with their predecessors. This is key because while the mid-engine cars are cool, they are a bit anonymous and I think you are going to have a hard time convincing someone to buy a track focused aston over a Ferrari or McLaren. The DB12 and DBS go back to the breathtakingly beautiful grand tourer design that I think Aston Martin does better than anyone. In fact both of those are the first designs since my DBS V12 that I’ve really fallen in love with. The DbX is a bit of a conundrum though. Its a great driving vehicle but it just seems to be a non starter in the class.. and its depreciation is killer. Yes its a little frumpy in its design but its actually way better in person. I think a successful mid cycle refresh is what will pull that nameplate through. That can be a challenge because aston loves to stretch the life-cycle of a car usually due to budget limitations.
The larger question is how do you get more people into the showrooms… for that im really not sure. Aston has always been about the beauty, not the lap time for me – and to that point i dont really think they should go after the ferrari/lambo market. They are better served going after bentley in my eyes but since Bentley is a VAG owned brand, its a tall order. The one thing I think could be done is a push for hybridization. While not completely necessary, it might be a way to set themselves apart and since they tend to me more luxurious, they would be able to take the weight penalty over other brands..
But yeah. I desperately want them to survive
I’m sorry to hear that your first experience with Bond films included the worst Bond theme from among the worst Bond films – sponsored by Ford.
One of the worst Bond films, sure. Worst theme? No way. That’s “The Living Daylights” by A-ha.
Any Bond theme after “A View to a Kill” has been entirely forgettable.
This is slanderous towards You Know My Name by Chris Cornell.
You could at least dance to “Living Daylights”:
https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/g30925924/james-bond-theme-songs-ranking/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=mgu_ga_mnh_md_pmx_hybd_mix_us_17889802313&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17883554872&gbraid=0AAAAACrVUPnMlXJ6eeY0KUZzGYbrRDfK4&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI97uhg8uSkAMVKW9HAR2achXkEAAYAiAAEgK5E_D_BwE
Makes sense there’s an aluminum smelter in Oswego. NY has a deposit on all aluminum beverage cans except hard cider. So there’s a plentiful supply of cleanish aluminum to be recycled. There’s also a nuclear power plant right next to town. Nuke plants are great for steadily providing lots of power. Perfect for the electric arc furnaces that smelt aluminum.
Obviously, I’m no expert, but there might be other ways to make (relatively) inexpensive aluminum sheet…
CA, CT, HI, IA, ME, MI and OR also have deposits on aluminum cans. Maybe Oregon could step in, they have 21 hydro plants. Exelon (Commonwealth Edison in Illinois) has nukes in IL, MD, NJ,
NY and PA.
In 1980, there were approximately 30 smelters in operation in the US.[4] I’m guessing 4 of those might be operational today.
https://www.oregon.gov/energy/energy-oregon/Pages/Hydropower.aspx
https://www.constellationenergy.com/newsroom/2018/exelon-generation-s-limerick-generating-station-hosts-community-.html#:~:text=Exelon%20Generation%20operates%20the%20largest,Jersey%2C%20New%20York%20and%20Pennsylvania.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminum_industry_in_the_United_States
And somehow NY has two of those? Oswego and up in Massena.
I’ve always wondered if those deposits actually help encourage recycling. When I lived in a state with a deposit, there were so few places you could go to get it back (and half the time the automatic system didn’t work, so it was a PITA on top of everything) that I was frequently tempted to just write off the 5 cents and toss my cans.
Astons are pretty of course (usually) but I’ve never really lusted to have one of my own. A pal owned one, and it seemed (to me) to be a PITA not worth the expense. I do see some of their SUVs around LA from time to time and I guess they’re a nice change from all the other high-end SUVs, but I have to assume that most of them are leased.
Personally, I’d really rather just have a Mazda, or even a Toyota.
No. I used to have to try to sell the things for a living! The reality is we kept expanding the consignment arm of the business so we could keep the doors open. Though if you thought AM sales were rough, Lotus was even worse.
The original Gaydon era Astons were gorgeous. All of them. The DB12, DBX and new Vanquish look fine, but the Vantage is… a thing. The interiors have gotten quite decent (build quality has improved substantially), but they’re at best competitive for the market. They then don’t sound great. “But they’re fast!” SO IS EVERYTHING ELSE.
Everything is “nice” but never exceptional, with rare exception. Lamborghini was getting better and was more exciting so we lost increasingly more sales there. Ferrari had the 430 and then 458 to eat into our low end. For everything used, we always just lost to Porsche because Porsche demolished Aston Martin on driving dynamics, build quality and TCO.
The Valkyrie is fantastic but not designed to sell in volume, but the Valhalla sounds like a nothing sandwich, nor does any other car in the range sound great.
The DBX seems cool, but like others here have said, the Urus and Cayenne can be specc’ed to compete very well against it. I like how its more understated than the Urus, but the Cayenne Turbo would still probably get my money in that market.
The DBs/12 are good looking, but they dont look much different from the DB’s from nearly 20 years ago, making it difficult for people to feel special driving one (and I honestly think they are a bit overwrought compared to the more restrained older versions). Aston has used the same looking car now with just little tweaks here and there for too long and the snake is finally eating itself.
Aston’s calling card is now down to a very niche product: the large, 12 cylinder front engine/RWD Grand touring car. Not a huge group of buyers there and it seems to be shrinking every day. This group of buyers will never hit zero, but it will get close.
To save the company they probably have to straight up dilute the brand into oblivion with “cheap” models that compete with entry level Porsches (which isnt really working for Porsche right now), or go all in to the extreme high end with $1M+ specialty cars and then slowly start working down from there (more akin to Ferrari). I think the latter is the best course as it should force them into the Pagani, Keonissegg, Bugatti etc territory and able to lean into the coolness of the brand of Aston. Otherwise I see them getting eaten alive in the lower end of the market over the next decade as good EVs start encroaching into that space globally.
TIL soda cans end up in Ford doors, just like they did in the ’70s.
Are we sure they were soda cans in the 70s?
What, you never heard of Tab?
Could have been Fresca too.
Both still exist, but I dunno if they taste the same as they did 50 years ago.
Negative. Tab was discontinued permanently a few years ago.
Apparently, you are correct Rad. Thanks for edumacating me. 🙂
Bill Gates’s drink of choice!
I don’t think the most important question is whether Aston avoids bankruptcy, but whether Aston survives bankruptcy. Chapter 11 (or whatever they do in the UK) is a tool to allow companies to sort of wipe the slate clean and try again.
Yes, it means they are a financial mess, and yes, there is suffering involved. I’m not saying it’s good but it’s not necessarily all bad. That Bond theme song on the other hand …
Ah, the famous “Chryslers are forever” Bond song?
Genuinely, if Aston is faltering at the same time that JLR is struggling, I can surely bet that the British Gov’t will step in to offer a deal to keep semblance of stability for another year or three.
I can only guess that the PIF will be buying a huge chunk of Aston Martin, probably along with Kushner’s private equity
Or maybe BYD or Geely.
If they make another Bond movie in the next couple weeks that should keep them afloat.
Aston Martin is one of those brands with a storied past but no clear future. They price themselves like Ferrari, but they don’t build their own powertrain. I like the looks of their cars, but they aren’t special anymore. I saw one one day and pointed it out to everyone else in the car (not car people) and they recognized the name, but were like, “Where?” Aston Martin F1 is pretty solidly mediocre, so I can’t imagine that sells many of their road cars. They may be a brand whose time has come and gone. As sad as it is to say, I think another bankruptcy is in their future.
I’m inclined to agree. Jaguar was (is?) in the same boat until they tried their emergency rebrand. The Aston name just doesn’t mean that much outside of the car community, I don’t think.
I think the main problem with Aston Martin is that a company, which had probably the most beautiful lineup among any car brand 15-20 years ago has currently not a single model which could be described even pretty. Hire new design guys ASAP!
I am a true sucker for Astons products, and I really want what is best for the brand, but I don’t see much of a path that leads to anything but bankruptcy within the next 10 years. Their products are some of the most competitive they have ever been but the DBX, the supposed savior of the brand, still is not connecting with buyers, and their volumes are just too low. Their attempt to sell higher margin, 7-figure hypercars was an admirable and seemingly smart idea 5 years ago, but that market is extremely saturated and is starting to cool off.
What Aston really needs is a much more competitive/marketable DBX, and a more distinct and unique product in the front-engine-RWD space. While the vantage and DB12/DBS are all truly gorgeous and compelling options, they all have flaws or tradeoffs that make the mainstream options like 911, AMG GT/SL, or Entry-level Ferrari a safer option. I really don’t know what the path to salvation for the company is at this point, since everything they attempt to do always seems to be countered by a global car market that moves away from that concept as soon as Aston gets theirs to market. At least they didn’t pull a Lotus/Rimac and put all their eggs into a $3M EV hypercar basket that isn’t selling.
When has any British auto manufacturer actually been in good financial standing?
World War II?
British Leyland was doing pretty good, right?
Die another Day is a “Cloth-tier” Bond theme.
I’d argue that it’s “sitting on the bare springs” tier.
I was trying to be kind.
To hit ‘rich corinthian leather’ Bond theme tier you have to go to Goldfinger.
Shirley Bassey is the gold standard.
And the movie itself isn’t even in a tier. It’s close in quality to stuff like A View To A Kill, without the saving grace of Christopher Walken.
The idea of Bond needed to reinvented after the end of the Cold War . . . the franchise was wandering in the desert for a while . . . i.e. Timothy Dalton’s Bond going after a S. American drug dealer?!!
They killed his CIA friend Felix though! And the semi truck does a wheelie!
Note: Yes, it’s bad. But I like it anyway. And it had a good theme song, I think. And Dalton kicked ass as Bond.
I hated that movie so much because of that wheelie. It wasn’t a Q-Branch vehicle. Why can it do these things? In a movie series with all sorts of unbelievable things, that was the one that broke the camels back for me.
BTW, Amazon Prime as a great doc on the music of Bond.
Every time someone tells me the Aston Martin F1 team is primed for success, I remind them that Lawrence Stroll has still not figured out how to make the Aston Martin road car company profitable at a time when there are more millionaires than ever before.
Aston Martin F1’s biggest problem is that it’s just a vanity project bought by Lawrence Stroll because Lance Stroll wasn’t good enough to get a drive for another team. They have made some exciting personnel acquisitions lately, but if they want to be competitive, they need to replace Lance with some real talent.
Note: I’m not saying Lance is a bad driver; he’s had good results from time to time. I just think he’s probably one of the bottom few drivers on the grid and there are better options available.
I’ve been saying that for a while now. Despite all the personnel they’ve poached no one should take them seriously as long as they continue to put Stroll on the grid.
I think it’s probably easier to win in F1 than is is to make a British luxury car brand not named Land Rover profitable these days.