There aren’t many CleanTechnica readers planning to purchase an Aston Martin. Aston Martin’s ultra-high-performance vehicles look terrific in James Bond motion pictures, however are OMG costly to the purpose that they’re out of attain of mere mortals. This week, firm CEO Lawrence Stroll, who made his cash within the attire enterprise in Canada, introduced at a press convention that Aston Martin is engaged on a brand new electrical automobile platform that can function the idea of 4 new electrical vehicles, one among which can be a coupe fashion SUV. All of them will use powertrains — motors, transmissions, and batteries — provided by Lucid.

Does this seem like an SUV to you? Courtesy of Aston Martin.

[Side note: Calling a car a coupe-like SUV is idiotic on its face. An SUV is supposed to be capable of hauling lots of stuff, much of it bulky. A coupe by definition has a low, swooping roofline that makes carrying a bunch of stuff impossible. But the motoring public is cuckoo for SUVs. In theory, if you call something and SUV, people will buy it. If you don’t, they won’t. The kicker is that proper SUVs like the Cadillac Escalade have poor aerodynamics, which is the last thing you want in an electric car. So the new electric cars from Aston Martin will be coupe-like SUVs. Just don’t dare call them hatchbacks!]

The large information right here is that, for years, Aston Martin didn’t make its personal powertrains. As a substitute, it sourced all of the oily bits from Mercedes AMG. It’s no coincidence that the Aston Martin System One workforce additionally makes use of Mercedes energy. And so it was a double shock to Mercedes to be taught that Lucid can be Aston Martin’s provider of selection for its new lineup of electrical vehicles. That information comes after the Aston Martin F1 introduced just lately that it’s going to supply its race engines from Honda beginning in 2026, making this newest information a double humiliation for Mercedes.

Lucid fancies its Air sedan as a competitor to the mighty Mercedes EQS (Mercedes would by no means admit it’s any such factor), and Aston Martin want to assume its new electrics are rivals to the EQS as properly. We’ll see how that seems. The brand new vehicles from Aston Martin gained’t be on the street till 2025 on the earliest.

Courtesy of Lucid

Lucid Has Lofty Objectives

The Lucid powertrain will function its high-power motors and superior battery expertise, each of which function on 924 volts, which makes excessive energy and quick charging doable. The highest-of-the-line Lucid Air options 3 motors with a complete of 1200 horsepower. The information from Aston Martin is that no less than a few of its upcoming electrical fashions could use 4 Lucid motors, which in idea ought to mix for a complete of 1600 horsepower. [That’s 1200 kW, for you lovers of the metric system.]

The unstated connection right here is that each Lucid and Aston Martin F1 are financed by Saudi Arabia, which is determined to shine its picture on the world stage after the Jamal Khashoggi affair that made the time period “bone noticed” a part of the favored lexicon. The F1 workforce is understood formally as Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant. Aramco, in fact, is the massive state owned Saudi oil and gasoline firm. The most important shareholder in Lucid is the Public Funding Fund, which is Saudi Arabia’s  sovereign wealth fund.

In line with AutoEvolution, Lucid would dearly love to determine itself as a luxurious automobile firm, not simply one other BEV maker. All its communication efforts have been centered on dismissing any comparability with Tesla whereas additionally humiliating the world’s most beneficial automobile firm by beating it with spectacular technical specs. Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson was the the chief engineer for the Tesla Mannequin S when it was being prepped for manufacturing. it’s honest to say he doesn’t like Elon Musk and the sensation is mutual. Lucid repeats time and again that its major competitor is the EQS, not the Tesla Mannequin S.

The affiliation with Aston Martin could assist Lucid be taught a factor or two concerning the ultra-luxury phase of the car market. Along with no matter earnings Lucid could derive from promoting elements to Aston Martin, it additionally reportedly now holds a 3.7% stake within the UK primarily based firm. Its affiliation with Aston Martin may additionally spark some curiosity in Lucid growing a excessive efficiency electrical sportscar of its personal. However the largest payoff for Lucid, based on AutoEvolution, is the burnishing of its repute. Having its title affiliated with Aston Martin is a sign to the remainder of the business that Lucid has arrived and ought to be thought-about a world class provider of first high quality automotive expertise.

“Aston Martin had choices they usually selected fairly independently what they felt is the perfect expertise obtainable on the planet,” Rawlinson informed Reuters final week. He added that licensing elements may very well be a big a part of its enterprise mannequin and assist the corporate transfer towards manufacturing extra fashions for the broader market. It plans a mannequin that can compete with the Tesla Mannequin 3 within the second half of the last decade.

A rising enterprise supplying expertise to others would assist Lucid, which like rival corporations has been fighting mounting losses, tightening money reserves and a worth conflict sparked by Tesla. “Will we ever need to make a $25,000 automobile as a result of that’s what it’s going to take to vary the world? I’m unsure if we need to be in that enterprise, however licensing our tech to an organization that would do this makes extra sense,” Rawlinson stated.

The Takeaway

Regardless of the gloss being placed on the deal between Aston Martin and Lucid, the reality of the matter is that, absent the assist from Saudi Arabia, each firms may discover themselves circling the drain if they will’t determine learn how to develop into worthwhile within the close to future. Having a sugar daddy backer is an excellent factor, however their mutual sponsor gained’t wait eternally for a return on its funding. The clock is ticking for each Aston Martin and Lucid and Lawrence Stroll and Peter Rawlinson each comprehend it.

Lucid has developed some wonderful expertise in relation to powering an electrical automobile however its gross sales haven’t saved tempo with its aspirations, one thing each begin up firm has to face. Aston Martin has been in enterprise for a century however that’s not a assure it is going to proceed in enterprise. It has struggled to promote something however sports activities vehicles for years. It should take greater than product placement alternatives in 007 motion pictures to maintain it alive.

Regardless of all of the comfortable discuss concerning the deal the 2 firms have struck, each CEOs know this higher work. The EV revolution is powering forward rapidly and it gained’t anticipate firms like Aston Martin and Lucid to get their sums proper. It’s a fragile dance they’re doing and we want them properly with their new partnership.

I do not like paywalls. You do not like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Right here at CleanTechnica, we carried out a restricted paywall for some time, but it surely at all times felt improper — and it was at all times powerful to determine what we should always put behind there. In idea, your most unique and finest content material goes behind a paywall. However then fewer individuals learn it! We simply do not like paywalls, and so we have determined to ditch ours.

Sadly, the media enterprise remains to be a troublesome, cut-throat enterprise with tiny margins. It is a unending Olympic problem to remain above water and even maybe — gasp — develop. So …