As car manufacturers go, Aston Martin is one of the world’s most exclusive. With only 60 cars built in 1992, Aston Martins have always been highly sought after by the rich and famous. Prince Charles, the heir to the British monarchy, owns two. They are also high powered, high quality — and high priced.
But apart from a few notable exceptions, there are only a few cars in Gulf states, though that’s all set to change. After an absence of several years, Aston Martin have returned to the Middle East. Local partnerships were set up last April, the first Middle East specification cars have just arrived in Jeddah and the company has expansive plans to claim as much as 10 percent of the luxury sports car market in 2002 alone, not just in the Kingdom but right across the Middle East.
In an exclusive interview at Aston Martin’s Bloxham Works near Oxford, England, Bill Donnelly, the company’s worldwide sales and marketing director, outlined an ambitious program aiming for worldwide sales as high as 5,000 cars per annum within six years.
Is that achievable?
Donnelly believes that it is. With the company now on a firm footing thanks to Ford ownership he is quietly confident that they will succeed.
"For the last 30 to 40 years we been a very tiny manufacturer of small numbers of exotic cars for a few wealthy enthusiasts. But with Ford’s backing and investment we’re starting to be a credible world player in the sports car market. We’ve made progress almost every year to the point where last year we retailed 1,500 cars, which is a record for Aston Martin.
"What we find is that Aston Martin is the kind of company — or brand I suppose — that people have uniquely personal memories or impressions of. So it depends to some extent on generation. The racing success was in the 1950s, culminating in 1959 with the Le Mans win and world championship. The generation below that remember the James Bond cars."
But what makes him think that Ford-backed Aston Martin can succeed where earlier attempts failed? "There are two aspects to this. Firstly we’ve got DB7 Vantage, which is a much better product than the earlier car, and we’ve got Vanquish, which is a new introduction, plus a firm plan for a third car line.
"The other is the personal commitment of the owners of the dealers that we enter into partnerships with. And in the particular case of Saudi Arabia, we are convinced that Ali Alireza, principal of Haji Husein Alireza, who we have got to know pretty well during the last nine months, is a guy that takes the opportunity very seriously. He’s demonstrated a degree of personal commitment and interest which we believe is second to none. We believe that any of the owners who buy an Aston Martin in Saudi Arabia will have access to Ali himself, and that’s what brings personal service.
"But service is not measured by the 95 percent of the time when things go right, more the 5 percent when things go wrong, and that’s the way that we depend. We have trained his technicians and obviously he will be stocking parts and tools and all the basics you would expect.
The backstop to that is a central service support infrastructure and parts supply in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, with local parts available there, and us (in the UK) as a second backstop where, frankly, we can get parts to the Middle East within 48 hours if need be. And we can fly out engineers or technicians to support them where necessary. So we’ve got several levels of support infrastructure, but above all a personal commitment to the customers themselves."
Aston Martin builds cars individually, with many purchasers visiting the works. Despite the distance between the Kingdom and Oxfordshire, Donnelly believes that this will also be the case with many cars destined for the Middle East. "Everything that we do, the facilities we’ve got and the time and effort we put in remains the same. Clearly, distance and time make it more awkward the further away you are, but we do see customers here from the Middle East who take the time to come and see us."
Astons are not flashy designs that attract attention for the wrong sort of reasons but understated cars of sheer quality, a fact seized on by Donnelly. "As you rightly mention, part of the attraction of exotic sports cars is the fact that they do have unique characters and to a certain extent they reflect national characteristics as well. The Ferrari is flamboyant and the German emphasis of Porsche is on the engineering and reliability and particular attention to detail that goes with it. We are a uniquely British sports car manufacturer taking the best of British, and the fact of where we are located with all the skills and technology — not just of Formula 1 but from a tradition of building sports cars in the region, we think we are uniquely equipped to do that.
"The world is more receptive to anything understated now, we think, than it’s ever been, for a whole variety of reasons. And I think therefore that Aston Martin’s time is now. People like the experience where the car itself is beautiful and striking, but not everybody knows what it is. It draws attention — but not in a flashy way. We very rarely get vandalism on an Aston Martin.
"Brand awareness is one thing that we need to do, and our presence at the Dubai Motor Show was the first step in signaling that we are back."
So does that mean that Aston will be coming to the Jeddah show? "We are just getting back and therefore we need to invest a disproportionate amount just to get back to where we want to be. Having just landed the first nine cars we’ll talk to HHA. If they want to participate then we will find a way."
