Aston Martin is radically shaking up its supplier network for the development of its electric car platform, including sourcing parts from shareholder Geely to cut costs and hasten its arrival.
The British company announced this week that it would take electric drive units and battery modules from Californian EV maker Lucid for its upcoming EVs, but Geely’s involvement could be just as important if Aston Martin is to successfully make the shift to electric.
Roberto Fedeli, Aston Martin's development chief, cited two examples of parts that Geely will supply ahead of Aston Martin’s EV rollout, which starts in 2025
“It’s a very good opportunity,” Fedeli told journalists at a briefing held at Aston’s HQ on Monday. “We are speaking about seats, HVAC… We speak about everything we can get from a wide shelf of components.”
Sourcing from Geely instead of relying on Aston Martin’s existing supplier base would help in two key ways: “Time to market, which in our segment is very key, and capex [capital expenditure],” Fedeli said.
Aston Martin currently leans on its relationship with Mercedes-Benz to source the electric/electronic architecture that is crucial to deliver the latest technology such as infotainment and assisted driving systems, as well as the twin-turbo V8 engine that powers much of its existing line-up.
That relationship will continue, Aston Martin emphasised. “We are still working very closely with Mercedes and they are going to be an important part of our future going forward,” chief financial officer Doug Lafferty said.
However, Aston is reliant on a network of 300 suppliers for all other components, many of whom are too small to be reliable enough or fast enough to deliver the improvements the company is looking for.
Aston Martin uncovered problems during an exercise to understand how better to avoid the parts shortages that affected all automotive companies following the pandemic. “What we found out was first the weakness of supply chain and second the complexity,” CEO Amedeo Felisa said at the same event, held ahead of an investor conference on Tuesday.
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