Aston Martin eyes a new wheel of fortune

Aston Martin has set its sights on a younger, female demographic as it attempts to reposition itself as a luxury lifestyle brand.

Aston Martin Rapide S.

At first glance, there’s much to see in what’s not there. No door handles protruding or depressing to break the Rapide S Coupe’s streamlined, aerodynamic 198-inch long by 53.5-inch high exterior surface. No outside lines delineating the two rear doors of what’s considered the most practical of Aston Martin’s current sports car line-up.

Inside the doors, there are one million stitches but not the slightest of blemishes in the all-leather (with walnut trim) interior, its sources having been kept far from wire fences that could damages the hides. A near-complete absence of external noise disturbance — boosted by a revised torque tube that reduces transmission noise in the passenger compartment — creates an intensely relaxing cocoon. And ergonomic seating, which can be adjusted multiple ways, removes any strain in the driving posture. More than that: it makes a more comfortable position than most other daily activities.

It takes minimal muscular effort to engage the engine by inserting Aston’s signature crystal key, finger tap into drive mode, lift the brake, glance out the rear view towards London’s Shard and we’re off.

With all that in mind, changes are afoot in Aston Martin’s upcoming range, now in production.

“The historical sense has always been there — we’re not out to alienate our current customers,” says chief executive Andy Palmer, who took the wheel in October 2014.

But a critical eye to Aston Martin’s all-sector appeal, and increasing global female buying power is the backdrop for Palmer’s push to further develop the marque. Aston Martin is now seeking to reposition itself as a luxury lifestyle brand with greater appeal to women and a younger demographic.

That starts with design strategy. An all-female ‘shadow board’ now approves every design detail before progressing it towards production, and the group holds real decision-making power, with feedback not only incorporated but no element progressing without the group’s approval.

There are corporeal changes, too.

“Physically, the car industry for 125 years has been 99 per cent male,” Palmer says. “It starts with the mannequin: eye line, hip, hands, it starts with that design and builds around that. So it’s designed around 99 per cent male.”

One of the design characters at the centre of the next range, Charlotte, marks a change.

“[There are] things you can see tangibly,” says Palmer, pointing to the steering wheel and paddle shifter. “The hip point is high enough that you get high visibility. Most women have smaller feet than men — you see the clutch foot dangling.

“Here, when a woman gets into a car, fundamentally it fits. She has this commanding seat position so that she doesn’t feel intimidated.”

Of course, it’s near impossible to feel intimidated on the road in an Aston Martin.

Driving west from along the Thames towards Westminster, the responsiveness of gears and (steel-alloy) wheels is instantly apparent.

An eight-speed Touchtronic III automatic gearbox contributes extraordinary shift speed as well as eight-speed technology. (In fact, it can switch between ratios in just 130 milliseconds — faster than even the most expert professional racer can make use of.)

State-of-the-art dampers and suspension (rear suspension bushes are 20 per cent stiffer than in previous models) eliminate, from an experiential point of view, almost all the undesirable feedback of lesser car models. It really is just you and the road, uninterrupted by any vehicle distractions.

It lends a feeling of supreme driver control.

One pay-off to the physical comfort and lack of sensory distraction is a sharper sensory experience and facilitated concentration. From this vantage, one starts to take more pleasure in the surrounds. Today, that’s Big Ben chiming to mark the hour. It’s the smell of leather, and the last stubborn autumn leaves blowing in the wind.

Along Buckingham Palace Gardens, a platoon of jogging army reservists turns their heads in unison.

At the next lights, a Ferrari challenges in the neighbouring lane. It’s tempting to take the race once the lights turn green, down the streets ahead. But the moment opens up to a revealing a difference — the Aston’s engine is quieter, the exterior lines more discreet. It’s an altogether more genteel, more English car.

Palmer’s push to progress Aston Martin’s brand is part of his larger plan for the 102-year old marque, owned since 2007 by a consortium of private equity investors (Daimler AG now holds a stake worth around 5 per cent).

It’s sorely needed. The group has been loss-making for decades.

“In 102 years Aston Martin has developed an incredibly strong brand,” Palmer says. “Basically everybody loves it. That’s not been reflected in the balance sheet.”

His ‘Second Century’ program (now entering its second year of a six-year plan) seeks new geographical reach, reflecting the fact that of around 75,000 cars sold in the group’s history, fewer than half have been bought in the UK.

It’s seen an Asia-Pacific head office opened in Singapore, and a new trading company in Japan, in addition to further ties with the Middle East. (Meanwhile, the group operates five trading centres in Australia, all profitable.)

Simultaneously, an expanded personalisation service — dubbed Q by Aston Martin — operating as a stand-alone business unit, is focused on tasks from delivering unique interiors to creating the DB10 featured in latest James Bond film.

It’s all part of Palmer’s intention to exploit the sweet spot of overlap between selling the all-out best models, and those which represent value for money.

This strategy, with another philosophical right-hand turn, arcs back to the strategic focus on women.

Roughly just 3,500 of those 75,000 cars ever have been bought by women — leaving plenty of room to grow — but Palmer also identifies a 70 per cent female ‘advocacy rate’ in Aston Martin’s overall purchases.

“Women are encouraging their [male] partners to buy an Aston Martin as a reward for doing well in business or whatever,” he says. (Conversely, men tend towards buying the cars with an intention of sharing the driving experience with a significant other.)

Is that statistic down to brand positioning or broader female buyer behaviour across the board?

“It’s a bit of both. Women tend to reward their families before themselves. … That can present a bit of a rational/irrational purchase dilemma.”

The rational behaviour would be seeking best value for money — a tactic seen as a greater priority for women than men, who tend to want the best toy money can buy. In Palmer’s vision, there’s no split or contradiction between the two.

Veering northwest onto the motorway, where speed limits sit at 70mph (112 kilometres), the Rapide S’ grunt power comes into the fore.

Recent improvements to the gear and final drive ratios mean the model’s AM29 V12 engine can now push to speeds of 200mhp (320km) or more.

With a 0-60 mph acceleration time of just 4.2 seconds (4.4 seconds for 0-100 km), down half a second from the car’s previous iteration, it doesn’t take long to reach the limit.

Plants and road lines along the periphery begin to blur.

Keeping speed means dodging between other vehicles, which brings the car’s agility — the 1990-kilogram body holds a 49:51 front to rear weight ratio — into focus.

After that, it’s hard to remember how fast you’re going until other vehicles seem to start rolling backwards.

At some point, Aston Martin’s private equity owners will want to take the returns on their investment.

Palmer won’t speculate further, including on the prospects of a float, off-market sale or otherwise, but he’s obviously steering the business towards a point on the horizon.

For the 52-year-old British-born industry veteran straight-shooter, though, who has a reputation for knowing the industry inside out, and where the bodies lie, the effort is also a deeply personal mission.

“When I quit school at 16 I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” he says. “That’s why I left. I did all of my [engineering] degrees online, part-time … At 19, 20 years old I knew I wanted to be CEO of a car company.”

A storeyed career, which took Palmer among the top three or four Nissan leaders, and later garnered a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2014, ticked almost all boxes. Only the biggest one was missing.

“I loved Aston Martin [all my life]. I went to high school four miles down the road from the plant,” the chief says.

When the opportunity to lead Aston Martin came up, it was, he says “like an opportunity of all the stars aligning”.

His mark on the group, then, looks like the apex of a personal relationship between man and brand that has inspired both ways.

What could possibly follow?

“When I retire I want to set up a studio and make clocks,” Palmer replies, brimming with passion. “I’m an engineer.”

Steering back along the Buckingham Palace tourist route towards Kensington, there’s more time to watch people on the streets around.

Interest in the car is gently expressed, but omnipresent. Women point it out to men holding their hands, parents to children and youths to grandparents. Locals in government suits and backpack-bearing tourists alike turn their eyeballs towards the hood’s handmade winged emblem.

There’s something similar about the smiles on their faces. Where the Ferrari earlier drew diverse reactions, approval of the Aston is universal — indeed, it’s impossible to say it’s not personal. Across all age groups, there seems tangible pride of association with, and indeed belonging to, the iconic marque.

Sitting at the centre of that there could be, if one is so minded, a rather warm glow — beyond the early setting sun.

The final proof is at Harrods, native milieu of the affluent vehicle, where each car on the street is a luxury marque. Parking among them to alight, even the doormen who’ve seen it all and still stand silent sentinel, break into a warm smile at this most British of cars.