CAR
A DB5 Vantage. — © Darin Schnabel
British sports car manufacturer Aston Martin has seen sales of its luxury cars fall by more than a quarter in the first quarter of this year. The drop follows the cessation of production of the older Vantage sports car model.
Aston Martin, which builds cars with an average price of 296,000 euros, delivered 945 cars in the first three months of the year. That is 26 percent less than a year ago. The company’s turnover fell by 10 percent to 268 million pounds (about 314 million euros).
The results were lower than experts expected. Aston Martin shares fell by almost 8 percent on the London stock exchange on Wednesday morning.
New model
The company has started making new versions of the Vantage and the DBX707 SUV, but they won’t go on sale for a while. Aston Martin also confirmed that it will launch a new sports car with a V12 engine, as part of its strategy to introduce new models more often.
In February, Aston Martin postponed the launch of its first fully electric car by a year to 2026. The sports car company is opting to first create a line of plug-in hybrid cars to bridge the transition to fully electric cars. (belga)
