Aston Martin pushes back first electric car to 2026

Aston Martin Lagonda has pushed back plans for its first electric car by a year as the group revealed it remained heavily loss-making and missed already-lowered production targets.

The luxury carmaker said it will now not launch its first battery electric vehicle (EV) until 2026.

It had been aiming to release the first Aston EV in 2025 after last year striking a deal with Saudi-backed US luxury EV maker Lucid.

The move saw Lucid take a 3.7% stake in Aston as part of the deal.

Aston revealed the delay to its first EV in annual results that also showed it failed to match recently-cut production targets for 2023.

The group reported 6,620 deliveries of cars to dealers last year, below the 6,700 target that was revised down in November due to problems ramping up production for its new DB12 sports model.

It had originally been eyeing a production goal of 7,000.

The group insisted it was on track to “substantially achieve” its financial targets for 2024 thanks to the launch of two new next generation sports cars, though it said this will be “heavily weighted” to the second half of the year due to the launch timings.

Its results showed it remained in the red last year, but narrowed pre-tax losses to £239.8 million from losses of £495 million in 2022.

Group executive chairman Lawrence Stroll – the Canadian billionaire who part-owns Aston Martin and also owns the Aston Martin F1 team – said: “Looking ahead to 2024, I’m excited by the future development of our product portfolio with the completion of our line-up of next generation, front-engine sports cars, including the recently unveiled Vantage, and the continuation of our specials programmes.

“These and other advancements will support the delivery of the company’s near and medium-term financial targets.”