Aston Martin to invest £200 million in new manufacturing facility in UK

Aston Martin has announced new investments amounting to £200 million (Rs 1,920 crore) in new products and facilities in the United Kingdom. As a part of its expansion, the British carmaker plans to open its second manufacturing facility in St Athan, Glamorgan in Wales. The new facility will see the production of the Aston Martin ‘DBX’ crossover.

The company additionally confirmed that production of next-generation sports cars would be focused at its headquarters and manufacturing centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire. Production of the recently announced all-electric RapidE is also to be located at Gaydon, starting in 2018.

It is anticipated that up to 1,000 new jobs will be created across St Athan and Gaydon between now and 2020. Across the supply chain and local businesses, a further 3,000 jobs will likely be created as a direct result of these investments.

Dr Andy Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin said: “During our 103-year history, Aston Martin has become famous for making beautiful hand-crafted cars in England. Through a detailed evaluation of over 20 potential global locations for this new manufacturing facility, we were consistently impressed with the focus on quality, cost and speed from the Welsh Government team. As a great British company, we look forward to St Athan joining Gaydon as our second centre of hand-crafted manufacturing excellence.”

First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones said: “I am delighted to officially welcome Aston Martin to Wales. We have been working closely with the company for almost two years in the face of fierce competition from other potential sites across the world. Our success today is testament to the reputation, dedication and skills of the Welsh workforce, all qualities that are synonymous with such a luxury, hand-crafted brand as Aston Martin.

“Today is the start of a long-term relationship between Wales and Aston Martin. We will work together in building on the strong foundations of our partnership to nurture a prosperous and rewarding future for this iconic company and its skilled workforce in Wales,” concluded Jones.

UK’s Prime Minister, David Cameron said: “Aston Martin is an iconic British brand and the decision to invest here shows real confidence in our economy. With our economic strengths and easy access to European markets, the UK automotive sector is thriving. It is one of the biggest in Europe – and the most productive – and Aston’s creation of up to 1,000 new jobs in Wales and the West Midlands is welcome news.”

Occupying 90 acres, the new Aston Martin facility at St Athan will re-purpose some of the facilities currently in use at the site by the Ministry of Defence. Centered on the transformation of the three existing ‘super-hangers’ at MOD St Athan, construction work is planned to commence in 2017 with full vehicle production commencing in 2020.

St Athan will be the sole production facility for the new Aston Martin crossover vehicle, which won’t necessarily take the DBX name it was given when shown as a concept at the Geneva motor show in 2015. The concept crossover shown at Geneva in 2015 signposted Aston’s intention and direction for this fast-growing segment of the luxury market. In May last year, the carmaker confirmed the production of the crossover. With growing demand for these types of vehicles in markets such as China and the United States, it is expected that over 90% of the production from St Athan will be exported outside of the United Kingdom.

Aston Martin will commence production in the autumn at Gaydon of the new DB11, the replacement for the iconic DB9 and the first car to be launched under the company’s Second Century plan. Over the course of the next five years, the company will both replace and expand its entire sports car portfolio. Starting with DB11, sports car manufacturing will be centered at Gaydon with the facility progressively expanding production to a planned maximum volume of 7,000 sports cars a year by 2020.