How Aston Martin will work with Geely on new electric cars

Aston Martin is radically shaking up its supplier network for the development of its electric car platform, including sourcing parts from shareholder Geely to cut costs and hasten its arrival. The British company announced this week that it would take electric drive units and battery modules from Californian EV maker Lucid for its upcoming EVs, but Geely’s involvement could be just as important if Aston Martin is to successfully make the shift to electric. Roberto Fedeli, Aston Martin's development chief, cited two examples of parts that Geely will supply ahead of Aston Martin’s EV rollout, which starts in 2025 “It’s a very good opportunity,” Fedeli told journalists at a briefing held at Aston’s HQ on Monday. “We are speaking about seats, HVAC… We speak about everything we can get from a wide shelf of components.” Sourcing from Geely instead of relying on Aston Martin’s existing supplier base would help in two key ways: “Time to market, which in our segment is very key, and capex [capital expenditure],” Fedeli said. Aston Martin currently leans on its relationship with Mercedes-Benz to source the electric/electronic architecture that is crucial to deliver the latest technology such as infotainment and assisted driving systems, as well as the twin-turbo V8 engine that powers much of its existing line-up. That relationship will continue, Aston Martin emphasised. “We are still working very closely with Mercedes and they are going to be an important part of our future going forward,” chief financial officer Doug Lafferty said. However, Aston is reliant on a network of 300 suppliers for all other components, many of whom are too small to be reliable enough or fast enough to deliver the improvements the company is looking for. Aston Martin uncovered problems during an exercise to understand how better to avoid the parts shortages that affected all automotive companies following the pandemic. “What we found out was first the weakness of supply chain and second the complexity,” CEO Amedeo Felisa said at the same event, held ahead of an investor conference on Tuesday. The company aims to cut that 300 supplier list by 30%, Felisa said, as part of a consolidation that will result in those remaining suppliers delivering less in the way of individual parts and more ‘sub-systems’ that include multiple parts. Bringing in Geely will give Aston Martin back the parts scale that it lost when Ford sold the brand in 2007. As part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group, Aston was able to lean on Ford’s supply network to reduce the cost of components. The latest move will bring Geely-owned Volvo back into Aston’s parts circle. The Swedish brand was also part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group and the Volvo name was often found stamped on parts used by period Astons – for example, on Vantage key fobs hidden under a sheath of more premium leather. The scale will also help Geely-controlled Lotus. Aston has long struggled to compete with the scale of rivals Bentley and Rolls-Royce, which can leverage a vast network of suppliers and technology from their parent companies, the Volkswagen Group and BMW respectively. Any component that is more reliable, cheaper and faster to develop than a bespoke equivalent is incredibly valuable to an independent company like Aston as it pivots to electric, especially if the part is non-customer facing. Geely was formally brought into the Aston family in May when the Chinese company increased its stake to 17%, making it the third-largest shareholder after the Yew Tree Consortium led by chairman Lawrence Stroll and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Stroll had previously criticised Geely for buying up its stake on the open market, but relations between the two thawed during Geely’s most recent share purchase, for which it paid a premium. Stroll has since described their relationship as “very amicable”. Geely parts would be integrated into the new electric platform rather than existing models – for example, the upcoming replacements for the Vantage and DBS as well as the Valhalla mid-engined supercar. “If you want to find room for a component, then you have to start from the platform, then build everything together,” Felisa said. Lucid and Aston Martin were introduced by PIF, a shareholder in both, but Stroll said the two had already been talking by that point. “We’ve speaking with Lucid for two and a half years and working closely with them for over a year,” Stroll said. “We determined they were far and away the best option to accomplish our mission to create the best performance luxury EV.” Aston's decision was swung by the lightweight packaging of Lucid’s drive unit, which combines electric motor, transmission and invertor, Stroll said. Lucid also impressed Aston with the low height of its battery modules, which will allow Aston to create sports cars it claims will sit lower than the current Vantage sports car. The Lucid deal means that the Californian company will supply cells within the modules, which it sources from a combination of suppliers, including LG Chem, Samsung SDI and Panasonic.