Arise, sir Lawrence

Lawrence Stroll believes he should be knighted for the work he has done in saving Aston Martin and setting the company up for future success.

Stroll is executive chairman of Aston’s road car business and owns the Formula 1 team, and the Canadian said he deserves more credit for what he has achieved. “I should be knighted for what I’ve done. I’ve saved thousands of jobs and built a new Formula 1 factory with hundreds of millions of investment,” said Stroll.

“The investment is staggering,” he added, but said it reflected the belief he has in the company’s future success.

The investment raised by Stroll and pumped into Aston is around £1.5 billion, which “is a huge show of my belief in the company… One doesn’t put that money into a business they don’t believe in the future of.” Stroll said setting up Aston Martin for future success was now largely complete, which in itself is no mean feat given it has taken just three years when turnarounds of industrial companies can take between five and 10 years.

Negative media coverage of Aston’s performance has only increased Stroll’s determination and belief in future success, he said, because “I know what I know” about the work done at Aston and what is to come. He believes there is still an air of negativity around the brand externally due to the impact of its IPO “but there’s nobody left [in the company management]. I can only speak from the past three years and what’s to come.”

On long-term success, Stroll said “in my other businesses, I’ve won”, and he expects the same to happen at Aston Martin. As evidence of the success the brand is having, he points to the way it has been able to increase the prices of its cars and the margins. The average sale price of an Aston has risen from £157,000 in 2020 to an expected £223,000 in 2023, and the margin of the car has increased from 18% to 37% in the same period. The goal for future cars is 40% and he believes up to 17,000 sales a year are possible, up from 6400 in 2022.