In an Aston Martin, you’ll soon be sitting on Geely seats

Developing a new car costs money. Money that Aston Martin has only limited. The British sports car manufacturer therefore has to use existing parts. The engine comes from AMG, the infotainment from Mercedes and the seats soon from … the Chinese Geely.

By the way, not only the seats, but also the heating, the air conditioning and many other parts. Geely recently increased its stake in Aston Martin to 17 percent. The Chinese auto giant already owns Volvo, Polestar, Lotus and the Malaysian Proton.

Geely becomes Aston Martin’s main supplier

Geely has also held a stake in Smart since last year. Mercedes wanted to part with its loss-making subsidiary and therefore sold 50 percent of its shares to the Chinese.

Roberto Fedeli, head of development at Aston Martin, told Autocar that he wanted to shorten the list of suppliers. Aston is currently buying parts from about three hundred companies. By working with Geely, this number can be reduced by around 30 percent.

Engine contract with Mercedes-AMG is extended

Aston Martin has extended its engine contract with AMG. A 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, which is also used in the AMG GT, is used in the Vantage, DB12 and DBX, among others. In order to be able to keep up in the field of electrical engineering, Aston has sought to get closer to Lucid.

DBX is by far Gaydon’s most popular model

Last year, the sports car brand from Gaydon only delivered about 6,400 cars. The target for this year is 7000. The engine behind this growth is the DBX. As with all top manufacturers, the best-selling SUVs are the Bentley Bentayga, the Lamborghini Urus and the Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

No more sedans, no more mid-engine Vanquish

Aston Martin has also decided to stop building sedans, such as the Rapide. The mid-engined Vanquish was also dropped. A study model for this was proposed a few years ago. The Walhalla – also with the engine in the middle – is still to come.