CALL ME ANDY
At the tender age of 16, a fresh-faced Andy Palmer took on his first apprenticeship at an automotive supplier. Now, almost 40 years later, the straight-talking executive is leading Aston Martin into its second century of existence. We had the opportunity to chat with the innovative president and group CEO about his company’s recent successes, the many challenges it faces flourishing in the current automotive landscape, and scripting a new narrative for the legendary luxury marque.
Righting the Aston Martin ship has been a very long process, and a monumental undertaking both personally and professionally. If you were to make a metaphor about piloting Aston Martin to its final destination of security—say, driving from New York to L.A.—how far along are you?
The IPO was always designed to be about halfway down the runway. And that means that we could generate proof of a track record, but at the same time, for the new investors coming in, show that there would be plenty of upside. So in that sense I would say that we were in Wyoming.
But if I was talking about where are we in terms of…the turnaround and growth story, in that sense we’re into the third phase. We’ve done the product, we’ve done the company stabilization. Practically speaking, the DBS represents the end of the portfolio and now we’re into the final phase, which. So in that sense, we’ve probably just crossed into Utah.
