The British sports car manufacturer Aston Martin wants to come out of the crisis with a new management team. Amedeo Felisa (76), former Ferrari boss, takes over the top position at the car manufacturer, which became internationally famous through the “James Bond” films. The previous Aston Martin boss Tobias Moers (56) resigns with immediate effect, the company announced on Wednesday.
Felisa held the top post at Ferrari from 2008 to 2016 and is currently a member of the Aston Martin board. The new head of technology will be Roberto Fedeli, who is considered the inventor of the first hybrid super sports car at Ferrari. “These two appointments will significantly strengthen the leadership team as we build next-generation sports cars and move towards electrification,” the company said. In January, Aston Martin appointed Doug Lafferty as its new chief financial officer. He replaced Kenneth Gregor, who himself had only been in office for 18 months.
In the first quarter, Aston Martin slipped deeper into the red. Pre-tax loss widened to £111.6m (€132.3m) from £42.2m a year earlier. Sales rose 4 percent to £233 million. This was largely in line with expectations share
therefore increased by 3.4 percent.
Aston Martin was already making losses before the Covid 19 pandemic and is suffering from high costs. In January 2020, in search of fresh capital, the British received 540 million pounds from a consortium led by Canadian Formula 1 billionaire Lawrence Stroll (62), who has headed the supervisory board since then. Shortly thereafter, the Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli (55) joined with 3.4 percent. Mercedes-Benz is also involved.
Stroll now praised Moers for stabilizing the company, “but now Aston Martin needs a CEO who focuses on the big picture,” he explained. The carmaker plans to launch its first all-electric car in 2025.