It’s been 4 months since Adrian Hallmark took the reins at Aston Martin. The company’s new CEO followed Amedeo Felisa, the former CEO of Ferrari, whose two-year stint was widely noted as a normal trend after mild morbidities. The mandate of former GFA Guy Tobias Moers.
Adrian Hallmark, CEO of Aston Martin, at the company’s headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire
Hallmark’s pedigree is time to none. As CEO of Bentley Motors from 2018 to 2024, and with delight at JLR and Porsche before that, the trait has led luxury brands as they navigate the choppy seas of turning legislation, geopolitical turmoil and a premium overhaul of the car market.
Aston Martin Vanquish, introduced in 2024
What has Hallmark planned for this 112-year-old company?A strong logo with a strong logo with low profits from Aston Martin has rarely dented the appeal or capability of its products.
The 2025 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster along the Aston Martin Vantage
Hallmark sat down with Wallpaper* and a host of other key industry publications to talk about their plans and mindset for the coming years. Fitting that one of the Allairs task of being “the first guy to make Aston Martin sustainable in 112 years,” Hallmark’s first point is to describe the new global context. We have the playbook,” he says, “but the market has completely changed. “
Around the world, there is more wealth than ever. “There are 4 times as many people each with 4 times as much wealth as they did 20 years ago,” Hallmark says simply: “The luxury market has grown exponentially. “
Aston Martin DBX707
To capture a slice of this pie, Aston Martin, like its peers, will have to pass even higher. Thanks to the resources of Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, Aston has lavishly spent, from a Formula 1 team to the incredibly complex and beloved progression of Valkyrie’s hypercar, not to mention DBX’s progression costs, over the course of recent stages such as Valkyrie, Valiant and Valhalla to come, a figure of £2 billion has been suggested.
Aston Martin Valhalla
How then can the rich be encouraged to spliences even more in a vehicle they don’t want in the first position?This finish of preference and novelty of market considerations is either intertwined to the point of inseparability. For a vehicle like an Aston Martin is about 2 years old, Hallmark believes in giving consumers a position to pass next.
As he puts it, unlike competitors like Porsche, Aston Martin’s potentially unwavering homeowners to look for a new solution have nowhere to go, given the relative rarity of existing variants. You have an advantage or a roadster advantage.
Aston Martin Vantage
More variants are coming, and the factory is also focusing on cost-effective things like optional extras and bespoke details. This was Hallmark’s breakthrough at Bentley, where the Mulliner Department (overridden via Q service via Aston Martin) can convert a “continental base” to a “continental base” Continental base. “Model” in much more for a little more expense through the factory.
A first iteration of the Aston Martin Valkyrie, photographed through Benedict Redgrove
Training has begun to explore each and every optional extras introduced through rivals, but not Aston Martin, from audio upgrades to things like Rolls-Royce’s “Starlight Headliner”. They discovered 190, and Hallmark thinks that “at least one at least one “hundreds of them would be suitable for a premium logo like ours” (not for the Rolls-Royce headline, for example).
Aston Martin Valkyrie, photographed through Benedict Redgrove
That is very good, another, another, even more powerful, an uncertainty that runs through the automotive industry; The EV. hallmark transition, like its industry peers, is not based on its confidence and commitment to an EV future. However, that’s not how cool politics works. Established generation progression cycles. ” Is it all up in the air or is it like this?”He asks rhetorically, adding authority that “the general trend is surely electrification. “
The Goldfinger Edition of Aston Martin DB12
For a logo like Aston Martin, small and nimble, but a lot possibly, big-tech compromises are a bucket roll that can’t be missed. “We can’t make electric vehicles, hybrids, and ice cars and see which One works,” Hallmark says. Flexibility is therefore the watchword. Hybrids will be the bridge, with the first style of volume before the end of the decade. It estimates that hybrid styles will remain on sale until 2035 around 2035, depending on the market.
Ultimately, Hallmark’s own belief, informed through decades of experience, is that 2035-2040 will be when all replacement occurs, at least in the UK. “”We are fully committed to bevs,” he says, “but the uncertainty in the UK, US and EU are detrimental and we want the business. “
Aston Martin DB12 Steering Wheel
Industry observers will also be aware of the rumours among the luxury sports car clientele, which don’t seem to be “getting” electric and favouring the sound and feel of classic high-capacity engines. Before leaving Bentley, Hallmark will have signed off on many aspects of the EV beginnings that are not yet reported and seen. This gave him a lot of wisdom about the client’s response.
“There are two other customers,” he says bluntly, “those who hate BEVs because they feel like they’re being told to have one, the global ‘no’ triggers billionaires. But there’s also a pro-EV group, which is growing “Noting that, like all automakers, we want to be 7 to 10 years from the consumer,” he believes the market will eventually happen.
The interior of Valhalla, which will be Aston Martin’s first PHEV
Valhalla will be Aston Martin’s first plug-in hybrid, worth an estimated £850,000, not Prius. The PHEV generation will continue to be powered via Mercedes-AMG engines, while the hybrid battery and transmission will come from elsewhere. So far, only Rolls-Royce has ventured into the global of natural EVs with the spectrum. “Of course, we need them to succeed,” Hallmark says, “because it shows that there’s a market. “
Inside the Vantage: A lot of attention has recently been faithful to AM Interiors
As far as the Aston EV is concerned, the existing spouse is the lucid American. “They have the point of the projected motors and battery systems at our point,” Hallmark says, emphasizing that the car won’t be a redesigned lucid gravity. Advances in fabrics and production generation will be at the heart of Aston’s electric feel. “It’s very hard to get that dynamic feel in a BEV,” Hallmark says, “mass is the enemy. “
With a battery weighing around 7 to 800 kg compared to 150 kg for a petrol engine, automotive engineers contemplate each and every conceivable way to save weight. This comes with parts and castings released in 3-D, new battery chemistry, and other inventions to be revealed.
Aston Martin Vantage
Regardless of the powertrain, Hallmark is adamant that “volume is less attractive to us than price creation. “It’s issued with Ferrari’s likely effortless ability to make cash on just 7,000 sales a year, and how things like “marginal adjustments can rack up margins. “These adjustments will focus on popular production cars, which specials tend to fill at least seven figures.
Aston Martin has trained in this area, much more so than Bentley, where Hallmark oversaw the advent of the Blower Continuation Series, and the Bacalar and Batur. In total, this represented about 120 cars; By comparison, Aston has just finished the structure of around three hundred Valkyrie variants, with Valiant in progress and 999 Valhallas to follow.
Aston Martin Valiant
The key to promoting this exotic is the collectors, the multimillion-dollar elegance of finishes who only want to have one, or several, of everything. Twenty years ago, those other people existed slightly. Even so, operating and succeeding at this more sensible point of car design and production requires great resources. The Valkyrie is somewhat remarkable, but it was late, very easy to build and possibly underestimated as a result, even at £2. 5 million.
Are you going to make another one?” Few automakers can afford, financially and emotionally, to make a car so far what they do every year. It’s a 7-10 year cycle,” says Hallmark. It suggests that cars are still subtle even now, they are on the way, with more than 90 engineering solutions already identified.
Aston Martin Valkyrie
In relatively stark contrast, Aston’s production races have a lot more to “regular” cars: they’re bought from dealerships, in finance. By comparison, buyers of the “specials” need involvement and commitment in the process, the feeling that at least a few months, Aston Martin is their car company, with a factory in their Beck and their call.
Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5 continuation cars
Aston Martin has an asset in the form of Aston Martin Works, the Newport Pagnell workshop that restores, installs and updates the company’s many classics. In the past, the works have also helped bring together a number of follow-up cars, but it turns out that Hallmark now has to look towards it, rather than return. “I was jealous of AM works when I was at Bentley,” he says, “because we didn’t have a credible option, so we made the blowers, so we could build the experience and the source chain. But I think constantly doing recreational is not a smart thing to do. “
A representation of the flats of the Aston Martin Apartments in Miami
When it comes to the logo being extended, Hallmark says it’s replaced a bit of his brain, again informed through his understanding with Bentley. “What I call tribal products—hats, bags, T-shirts, etc. —has no genuine value,” he says, “Yet genuine ownership and design are fascinating. Customers are much more open to logos moving around the design space. Bentley Home, with its bespoke furnishings, global showrooms and committed hotel suites proven to be a massive success. “Brands are social badges,” “Continue,” I’d say the rise of designer items are the next specials. “
Aston Martin Brough Superior Amb001
Over the years, there have been a number of genuine Aston Martin-branded real estate projects, from a personal home in Tokyo to a recently completed residential tower in Miami, a New York State home, and apartments in Manhattan. Brough Superior, a helicopter with Airbus and hypothetical designs for yachts, Evtol blueprints and more, and delight and reach to grow.
Aston Martin Volante Vision Concept, 2018
China is some other domain of focus. The country’s auto market has noticed a 35% drop in luxury intelligence sales in recent years, a domino effect on the country’s genuine real estate crash. “The smart news is that we’re not doing much in China,” Hallmark said, half-heartedly, “Performance brands perform as well as luxury brands, so we’re not as exposed as many of our competitors. “
The Glenfiddich X Aston Martin Formula One collaboration
That said, I would like to have the opportunity to divulge a little more. The DBX SUV deserves to have led the charge on the Chinese market, so far, it has underperformed. A China-only six-cylinder styling has been canned, and the existing car will get more upgrades that will bring its capabilities. -Have a business plan component. ” We can’t exist without SUVs,” he says.
Aston Martin DBX707
The change can be notoriously complicated in the automotive industry, but for Hallmark, immersed in the multi-layered hierarchy of the VW group (owners of Bentley), arriving at Aston Martin was a breath of fresh air. Think, and then you act,” he says.
A representation of the Aston Martin Valkyrie Amr Pro, an evolution of which will take a position at Le Mans in 2025
That agility and Stroll’s reputation as an entrepreneur (if the courage and courage are right) supports some other notable moments to come, adding that Aston returns to more sensible elegance at Le Mans in June with Valkyrie. Be it a start to a fairytale era from Hallmark to Aston Martin, however, whatever the outcome, he firmly believes the company is well-positioned to deliver across the board.
Aston Martin CEO Adrian Hallmark with upcoming Valhalla mid-engine
Astonmartin. com, @astonmartin, @astonmartinf1, @astonmartinracingofficial
Jonathan Bell has been writing for Wallpaper Mag* since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transportation design to books, technology, and graphic design. He is now the editor-in-chief of mag and technology. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, adding concept car design, the 21st century house and the new modern house. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.