It’s getting silly out there.
Aston Martin has this afternoon announced that it is to cut around a third of jobs at its Gaydon facility. That’s 300 full time and 300 part time.
Aston Martin is the most iconic of British Car Brands. To be in this much trouble is really rather worrying. But there are very, very few car makers who aren’t suffering at the moment. Rolls Royce seems to be a bit of an exception, but they are exclusively at the top end. Aston Martin has, in recent years with the introduction of the V8 Vantage, gone a bit more mainstream. High-end mainstream, admittedly, but mainstream nonetheless. And this market is being hit hard.
Aston Martin - Big job cuts announced
Of course, AM has been here before. In fact, until Ford took over, they were almost permanently in trouble. But the last decade has seen a complete change in the fortunes of AM. Deservedly so. It now has world-class cars which are properly sorted and properly built, something it could never really boast in the past. But it’s now in private hands and, unlike Bentley which has VW behind it, it doesn’t have the luxury of being the Halo brand for a massive manufacturer.
The worrying think about job cuts is the loss of expertise. As things recover, will that expertise still be available? Who knows. Maybe this is just AM being cautious and making deep cuts early to stem the haemoraging. Let’s hope so.
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