Aston Martin looks at US factory sites for electric 4x4

Aston Martin has held talks with several US states about building its first overseas factory as part of plans to bring an ambitious electric 4x4 to market.

The lossmaking British heritage brand is also looking at UK sites for the new DBX including once-great carmaking centres such as the former Jaguar site at Browns Lane in Coventry.

But Aston is being courted aggressively by several states in the southern part of the US with incentives including land and tax breaks, according to several people familiar with the matter.

The DBX, unveiled at the Geneva motor show in March, forms the centrepiece of chief executive Andy Palmer's mission to arrest a dizzying fall in the company's sales.

Aston, based in Warwickshire, wants to take annual shipments of its sports cars from about 4,000 back to pre-crisis levels of around 7,000. It also hopes to build 3,000 additional units annually of its planned luxury saloon car line at its Gaydon headquarters.

That leaves no room for the DBX at Aston's headquarters, which has little scope for growth because it is next door to the engineering base of the ever-expanding Jaguar Land Rover. Aston declined to comment.

David Bailey, automotive expert at Aston Business School, said a US factory would be a "giant" step for the carmaker. "But it would make sense in that, clearly, they've got markets around the world so producing close to those markets would be beneficial," he said.

Manufacturing has been moving southward in the US with car production shifting from the old northern rust belt to states such as South Carolina and Tennessee, where labour is cheaper, non-unionised and plants benefit from a developing cross-border supplier trade with Mexico.

Southern states are thought to be pushing particularly hard to win automotive business after missing out on several recent investments that went to Mexico.

One of the people said Aston's talks were a natural part of exploring how the DBXl might enter production, which would likely take three to four years. "But the [US] discussions are real," the person added.

Aston is thought to be leaning away from using a contract manufacturer such as Magna Steyr, which built the company's Rapide model in Austria for several years before Aston took production in-house.

Aston prides itself on its handmade heritage and the skill that goes into crafting its vehicles, each of which takes about 200 man hours to build. The Gaydon factory has a low level of automation, using just one robot.

Another person close to the company said Britishness was also very important for the brand. "There are sound economic reasons why they should [look at the US]," the person said. "But I would be very worried if I were looking at a 4x4 Aston Martin built outside the UK. It seems like such a departure on so many levels."

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