Yahoo Finance Lawrence Stroll seeking fourth Aston Martin chief in as many years
The billionaire chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda is hunting for his fourth chief executive in four years.
Lawrence Stroll, who is also the company’s biggest shareholder, is said to have contacted current and former bosses of other luxury car manufacturers to ask whether they would be interested in taking the top job.
The role is currently held by Amedeo Felisa, a veteran Ferrari executive who was parachuted in 21 months ago following the departure of Tobias Moers.
Moers in turn had only been in post for just under two years. His predecessor, Andy Palmer, was ousted following Mr Stroll’s 2020 rescue of the business.
Mr Palmer later said he learned about his removal from a journalist who called him to ask for comment.
In Mr Moers’ case, Mr Stroll initially denied he was seeking to replace the former chief executive before later announcing his immediate departure “by mutual agreement”.
Under arrangements that have been in place since he took control of the company, Mr Stroll has remained as executive chairman of Aston throughout.
The identities of the car executives so far approached by Mr Stroll were not revealed by Bloomberg, which first reported the story.
A spokesman for Aston Martin on Tuesday said the company did not comment on “rumour and speculation”.
However, an Aston source did not deny the reports. The insider pushed back against suggestions that Mr Stroll was unhappy with Mr Felisa, who was chief executive of Ferrari from 2008 to 2016, but said it was normal for public companies to ensure there were proper succession plans in place for senior executives – pointing to Mr Felisa’s 77 years of age.
“Amedeo remains very much at the heart of leading the launch of our next generation of cars,” the insider added.
Mr Stroll announced Mr Felisa would take over as chief executive in May 2022, at the same time the abrupt departure of ex-Mercedes Benz boss Tobias Moers was revealed.
The Italian, who is well-regarded in the motor industry, had previously sat on the board as a non-executive director.
One former employee questioned the impact of repeated management changes on company morale, adding: “If you have four chief executives in four years, maybe it’s time to start asking whether this is about more than just a problem with the chief executives.
“One of the issues you have is that whoever is in charge is not really a genuine CEO. A chief executive is not really the executive if there is an executive chairman sitting above them, who is getting involved in all the big decisions.”
Aston is preparing to launch its latest two-seater Vantage sports car next Monday, following the launch of the DB12 last summer.
The cars are seen as central to Mr Stroll’s transformation plans for the company, alongside the DBX707 “supercar SUV”.
However, the company warned in November that it would deliver fewer cars than expected after supply chain and software challenges impacted production of the DB12.
For the first nine months of 2023, Aston reported a loss of £260m.
