Tobias Moers opened the Zoom software in his laptop, clasped his hands to his chest, and greeted the camera easily. At the other end of the camera is the office of Aston Martin, on the 29th floor of Raffles City, the most prime location in downtown Shanghai.
Since becoming CEO of Aston Martin Lagonda last August, Murong Tao has moved his family to Gayton, England, the headquarters of Aston Martin. Connecting with employees around the world via computers during the pandemic has been his norm.
Mr. Mu has years of experience in the automotive sector, having previously held top positions at Germany-based Daimler AG for more than 25 years and was a true "insider." From October 2013 to August 2020, he served as Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of Mercedes-AMG and as Acting Chief Technology Officer. Under Murong Tao's leadership, Mercedes-AMG has doubled its product portfolio with clear strategic goals for expansion, with sales of AMG models growing fourfold.
Aston Martin, who has a long and successful technical and commercial relationship with Daimler AG, said he has always been passionate about high-performance cars and had a close-up understanding of the brand in terms of technology when the two companies first began working together. After joining Aston Martin, Murong Tao led the team to launch the first core model, the Vantage F1® Special Edition, to pay tribute to the classic British ultra-luxury car brand's return to F1 for the first time in more than 60 years. The car is also Aston Martin's latest masterpiece.
Founded in 1913, Aston Martin, as a 108-year-old elder, experienced several financial crises in his life. The brand was first acquired by Lady Charnwood in 1924 and changed hands several times until it was acquired by Prodrive in 2007 and successfully listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2018. However, the arrival of the new crown epidemic in 2020 has made Aston Martin's new car, the DBX, experience a big blow. Murong Tao said in an interview that Aston Martin urgently needed some fundamental changes. As for what these "fundamental" changes are, are they going to eliminate old models or new electrified products? Time will hand over the answer sheet.
Dialogue with Murong Tao:
Q: This year marks the 10th anniversary of Aston Martin's entry into the Chinese market. As as the global helmsman of Aston Martin, what opportunities do you see in the Chinese market?
A: The Chinese market has always been very important to Aston Martin. Comparing the performance of the fourth quarter of last year with the first quarter of this year, we are full of confidence. As an ultra-luxury car brand, our sports cars and SUVs are very strong, which also reinforces our belief in introducing more models to the Chinese market in the future. Aston Martin has a top-notch team and will give the chinese market the greatest support. At the same time, the feat of returning to F1 is also very beneficial to our brand promotion in China, and the attention brought by this event will surely bring us great market potential.
Q: Now that the entire automotive industry is facing a major change, we are very concerned about how Aston Martin will shape its own brand and continue its own model advantages in this round of electrification and intelligent transformation.
A: Starting in mid-2023, all of our new products will have electrification elements, and gradually building our own electrification ecosystem to better meet the future is an undoubted and crucial step. In terms of electrification, we will have hybrid models, as well as electrified sports cars, including hybrid mid-engine models Valhalla and Vanquish, both hybrid models, and the first pure electric car is expected to be launched in 2025-2026. At this stage, we have no plans to develop a fully electrified mid-engine model, and the next generation of sports cars may be fully electric, but this is not a problem to consider now. Therefore, we will develop electric vehicles based on our existing models, and we will not produce pure electric vehicles at present.
Q: DBX is the brand's first attempt in the field of SUVs, how do you evaluate the positioning and market performance of DBX in the DB family? What are the characteristics of its consumer group compared to previous sports car customers? Will more SUVs be introduced in the future?
A: We have high expectations for this model, and from the current market performance, DBX can be said to live up to expectations. DBX provides us with a great platform where we will launch other derivatives of DBX and develop more SUV models based on this platform. Of course, some SUV models may be more sporty, and we believe that there are great possibilities in the future. All in all, this model is very important for us.
Q: In 2021, aston Martin returns to F1, what will this milestone have to do with the brand's future electrification strategy? As an ultra-luxury sports brand, will Aston Martin's future development route be more focused on the brand's luxury features or emphasize its sporty characteristics?
A: I don't think there is a contradiction between the return of the brand to F1 and the development of electrification, and the two are complementary. Electrification plays a very important role in F1 races at the moment, and the engine efficiency of F1 cars with hybrid technology is probably the highest. Regarding brand attributes, Aston Martin will continue to work on the brand image of high-performance sports cars, and we have always defined Aston Martin as a brand that manufactures performance sports cars and develops models for the market that meet the different needs of consumers, which is not contradictory.
Q: At present, we know that aston Martin and Mercedes-Benz have some cooperation in hybrid technology, so what kind of cooperation news can be revealed in terms of intelligence, marketing or sales channels?
A: What we signed with Mercedes-Benz was a technology transfer agreement where we got some new technologies from AMG, including Mercedes' brand new technology in the area of electrified powertrains. The agreement also includes mid-engine technologies such as the V8 mid-engine on valhalla and the V8 engine on vantage models. This technical agreement could help Aston Martin develop more models. However, in the digital experience or intelligent function of the vehicle interior, we will not copy the intelligent solutions of Mercedes-Benz, but independently build the intelligent platform of Aston Martin, create a customized and intelligent ecosystem unique to the brand, and bring a different and unique experience to our consumers.
Written by I Xue Ni Picture I interviewee provided