Aston Martin CEO upbeat over Kuwait investors

ASTON MARTIN: Its CEO remains upbeat over the company's Kuwaiti investors. (Getty Images)

Aston Martin said its Kuwaiti investors would cushion the luxury car maker during the economic downturn and said it did not expect the investor to sell its stake, the CEO has told Arabian Business.

Ulrich Bez said although the British sports car maker expected to sell up to 1,300 cars less this year, Kuwait-based Investment Dar has a long term investment in the firm.

“We are confident that we have long term investors who support and understand that [the partnership] is a long term investment,” he said in an interview.

“We trust each other and what we are doing, so this is maybe the cushion,” he added.

In March Investment Dar said it was considering selling off “non-core assets” as part of a new strategy to focus on unspecified parts of its business.

The Islamic firm paid $848m for a controlling stake in the luxury carmaker in 2007 as part of a consortium including the former UK auto racing champion, David Richards. The buyout was the first in the UK to be backed entirely by Islamic debt.

In December Aston Martin cut 600 staff from its operations in response to a slump in sales.

Bez said he expected sales figures to drop to 2005 figures this year but added the car maker is focusing on expanding its operations in the Middle East.

“In March we sold 40 cars and in Kuwait we expect to [sell] about 70-80 cars [this year]. The region will probably sell 200-250 cars this year and in the future, when we are properly established and with the [introduction] of the Rapide this year ,we should expect a dimension of 500 in two to three years time.”

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