Where next for Aston?
Now that Bill Ford has put Aston up for sale, Jack poses a really interesting question in his comment over at stealthisbrand.
Who is best placed to exploit brand Aston Martin?
According to auto trade press like Evo, prospective valuations vary wildly between £200m and £1billion.
This has very little to do with car sales – which have increased ten-fold in the last 10 years, and everything to do with brand equity…
Is it time that Richemont, or LMVH took over, asks Jack?
I see three challenges:
L’Oreal now owns Aveda and Body Shop, and actually appears, on balance, to be acting as a pretty good parent….
On the other hand, l’Oreal is not just managing the brand, it’s optimising the supply-chains which get these brands to market. Similarly, the profitability of modern carmaking (such as it exists!) is all about platform-sharing, shared development facilities and optimising the communal parts-bin…
What could a luxury goods firm possibly contribute to this? The answer may be ‘quite a bit’.
At present, within Ford’s Premier Automotive Group, the design, performance and positioning of Jaguar is constrained by its need to sit ‘under’ the Aston brand. And vice versa. New, divided ownership would free both brands to live their brand essence more fully.
Aston could move to a much more sporting race-bred focus, and would also be free to move ‘down’ through a Cayman-equivalent, in due course. It would also leave Aston free to re-interpret its Britishness in a much fresher way…
Aston is a much more powerful and transferrable lifestyle brand than Ferrari or Lamborghini…
Excellent analysis of L’Oréal, and the parallel to the modern automotive industry. Capital is an enemy here, as even the Livanos family discovered when it co-owned Aston Martin, and luxury goods’ groups can finance the company effectively. I do like your idea of moving Aston further downmarket provided it strengthens its racing end—that would be suitable compensation for those who choose the brand for its exclusivity and create a very powerful statement for it.
I can foresee licensing opportunities galore, and Aston should be good at those …
Will a limited edition save Alfa?
Continuing the automotive theme from ealier this week… Reuters report that Alfa is to launch a limited run car, the 8C, in an attempt to salvage its poor reputation for quality. Unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, the new model…