Luxury car buyers are snubbing electric vehicles (EVs) while mainstream car buyers continue to set the zero emissions pace. Aston Martin and Lamborghini have put their first electric cars on hold, Bentley has slowed its Luxury Urban EV – the Torcal's – introduction, and Ferrari's Luce EV was unveiled into a firestorm of critical reviews.
Adrian Hallmark, who ran Bentley for six years before becoming Aston Martin's CEO, made one of his first decisions to pause Aston's electric ambitions due to simple commercial logic. "The lack of Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) adoption means for Aston Martin to take that gamble was crazy," says the boss. He believes it's probably three to four years before they need to properly start those programs.
View Price on AmazonGiven Aston lost $245 million before tax last year, it could do with plowing its cash into vehicles with the greatest chance of profits. And will Ferrari's Luce – styled by Apple designer Sir Jony Ive – be commercially dead on arrival, following its critical mauling? "I don't think so," ventures Hallmark. "I know [luxury buyers] still want to be in the same class of vehicle. If an EV is more powerful, has still got the leather, fit and finish, the feel and everything, [people will ultimately switch]."
But he's very clear on what will hasten the transition: taxation. Hallmark drives a G-Class from Aston's V8-engine supplier Mercedes-Benz, which will land him a $6,600 tax bill in Switzerland this year. "When the tax bill becomes unbearable," he reckons, the multi-millionaire exodus will start. Jaguar Land Rover is also on the go-slow introducing its electric Range Rovers – the flagship EV is running two years late – and its make-or-break electric Jaguar Type 01.
Source: autoexpress.co.uk
