DBX

Segment
SUV

2019 was a bad year for Aston Martin. The company faced significant financial losses, while disappointing sales of the Aston Martin Vantage caused the company's wholesale 2019 volume to drop by seven percent. Fortunately, the company has been rescued by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, the owner of the Racing Point F1 team.

Aston Martin's shareholders have officially confirmed that Lawrence Stroll will be appointed as executive chairman from April 20. The company has also secured £536 million ($665 million) from a rights issue, with £262 million ($324 million) coming from the Yew Tree consortium led by Lawrence Stroll.

This investment will allow Aston Martin to put the DBX into production after the company's production facility in St Athan, UK, reopens following last week's shutdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Customer deliveries for the DBX are still planned to start this summer if production and the supply chain resume as planned.

During this crucial time, the Aston Martin DBX will become the most important new model in the company's history. Aston Martin will be hoping to replicate the success of the Porsche Macan, as the DBX is expected to become the company's best-selling model. As well as confirming Lawrence Stroll's investment, Aston Martin also re-affirmed plans to enter the 2021 Formula One season for the first time since the 1950s.

Aston Martin's financial troubles aren't over yet, however, as the coronavirus pandemic is causing mass disruption and uncertainty about the carmaker's future. Even with the massive investment, shareholders fear that Aston Martin could run out of money in just 12 months based on its current plans, meaning that the success of the DBX will be even more important than Aston Martin anticipated.

"Taking into account the proceeds of the capital raise, the Company is of the opinion that the Group does not have sufficient working capital to meet its requirements for 12 months following the publication of the Original Prospectus," Aston Martin said in a statement. "This is due to the increased impact, since the Company published the First Supplementary Prospectus on 13 March, of Covid-19 and the ongoing and unquantifiable uncertainty it has created and continues to create."