This time, the object is Aston Martin (Aston? Martin.
In the Financial Times report, Geely Group plans to invest 9.9% of Aston Martin/KLOC-0, involving an amount of 200 million pounds. In terms of details, whether it is just a "financial investment" or whether it will involve technical cooperation has not been confirmed.
It's less than two months since the last rumor. 1 1 At the end, there were "foreign media" reports that Volkswagen intends to sell its luxury car brand Bentley, and it may be Geely.
Perhaps just as people think of the charming British agent 007 in Hollywood movies when they talk about aston martin, Geely has now established a fixed image in the world-a "local tyrant" from China who is good at "buying while buying", and any goal of the automobile industry can arouse great interest. In this way, as long as there is news of the sale of automobile brands or the search for investors, the foreign counterparts of the automobile school can brush a manuscript of "China Geely intends to XXX" to earn the manuscript fee and attention.
In just one year, in addition to Aston Martin and Bentley mentioned above, there are also rumors of mergers and acquisitions or equity cooperation between Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lamborghini, Jaguar Land Rover and Geely.
Although, these rumors were not debunked in the end. ...
In the early years, people always asked: Does China still need a new car brand? Now, the question becomes: Does Geely need a new M&A goal?
On the one hand, it can be understood that the wind listening to "foreign media" is rain. After all, Geely's success as today's Geely began with a merger. Before the successful acquisition of Volvo from Ford ten years ago, Geely was second-rate even among its own brands in China. Not only did it not sell as well as Chery and BYD, but its models were also poor. At that time, the first impression of Emgrand, Global Hawk and other models to consumers was low price, but the quality was not outstanding, even a little low.
Geely really made a fortune when "Snake Swallows Elephant" bought Volvo. Geely has not only been positively influenced in terms of products, design, research and development, marketing, etc., but also established a complete system that independent car companies have never had before. Since then, Geely has successively acquired Proton Malaysia and invested in Daimler, and a new global automobile group was born.
On the other hand, foreign media seems a little too enthusiastic about speculating Geely's merger. So that Geely is considered to be the big head of the net.
Aston Martin is very good. It can build a fast super sports car and has a very high brand tonality. In a way, it's different from holding a glass of wine? James Bond of Martini successfully combined spy war style with British aristocratic temperament, which was not only higher than Porsche from the hometown of shredded spinach wonton (a famous Stuttgart dish), but also made Ferrari and Lamborghini with spaghetti sauce jealous.
On the other hand, aston martin is not necessarily an excellent M&A target. This British supercar manufacturer with a history of 107 is facing a severe test. Aston Martin has been plagued by a series of profit warnings since its unfortunate initial public offering in London in 2065,438+08. In the latest financial report, Aston Martin recorded a pre-tax loss of 654.38+03.5 million in the third quarter of last year. At the same time, due to uncertain factors such as Britain's withdrawal from the European Union and weak economy, Aston Martin's sales in the third quarter of last year also decreased by 65,438+06% year-on-year, reaching 65,438+0497 vehicles-the most serious decline was in Asia where China was located, with a full decline of 65,438+.
Aston Martin was valued at about 5 billion pounds in 20 18, and now it is only1500 million pounds. In the past 12 months, Aston Martin's share price has even fallen by more than 60%. ...
Tired of dealing with the decline in sales and the collapse of investor confidence, and raising funds at the same time, Aston Martin's overall situation is not optimistic. It can be said that DBX is a big bet for Aston Martin. Once the sales of this super-running SUV against Bentley Tim Yue and Lamborghini Urus are not as good as expected and become the main driving force for Aston Martin's growth in the next few years, then Aston Martin is likely to fall into a desperate situation again.
More than ten years ago, while making a splash in 007 casino royale, the scene of being sold by Ford was still in sight. When daniel craig is about to change from "new 007" to "retired 007", is it necessary for aston martin to have another reincarnation?
There is no doubt that for aston martin, the urgent need for new investors has long been a well-known conspiracy all over the world. Just as the Financial Times named Geely, British Sky News (Sky? News) reported that China electric vehicle battery manufacturer Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. is also considering taking a stake in Aston Martin.
In fact, in June+February of last year, 5438, aston martin confirmed that it had negotiated with several potential investors to raise funds by selling shares, including Lawrence Speed, other Indian automakers and potential investors from the Middle East.
Geely is willing to spend money, but never squanders it. While acquiring Volvo, Geely also has the opportunity to acquire Jaguar, but it is precisely because Jaguar lacks the foundation of engine and platform research and development compared with Volvo that Geely gave up Jaguar, which is closer to Aston Martin, and chose Volvo, which can bring more help to itself.
More importantly, Aston Martin was really cheap last time. In 2007, Ford sold it for only $925 million. Three years later, Geely bought Volvo for $654.38+08 billion, almost exactly twice as much as Aston Martin. How much is the brand worth and what is the appropriate price? Geely knew it long ago and began to buy.
Aston Martin, Jaguar and Lotus, which are now firmly controlled by Geely, may have a gap in brand awareness, but they are all British sports cars, and there is no essential difference. For Geely, if repeated investment is made, its marginal effect will be greatly reduced.
As for Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd., as Aston Martin restarted its sub-brand Lagunda the year before last, and said that it would become an electric vehicle brand, perhaps Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. is more likely to cooperate with Aston Martin as a power battery.
Geely bought Aston Martin, whether you believe it or not, I don't believe it anyway.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.