Aston Martin has issued a stark warning about its annual earnings and announced a cut in vehicle production for 2024, as it grapples with supplier issues and faltering demand from China . The luxury car manufacturer saw its shares plummet by over 20% on Monday morning after revealing plans to produce around 1,000 fewer cars than initially anticipated this year, due to part delays caused by supplier disruptions. The company also highlighted challenges in China, where a gloomier economic forecast is expected to result in a "high single-digit percentage" drop in wholesale sales volumes—a stark contrast to the previously projected high single-digit volume growth.
Aston Martin has admitted that these setbacks will likely dent profits, with underlying earnings for 2024 predicted to fall short of expectations. This profit warning follows similar announcements from automotive giant Stellantis, the parent company of Peugeot and Fiat, which also revised its yearly forecasts downwards amid deteriorating industry conditions. Other major players like BMW, Mercedes, and Volkswagen have recently signalled lower-than-anticipated profits in the face of a tough auto market, including a slowdown in electric vehicle demand and reduced interest from Chinese consumers.
Aston Martin's new chief executive, Adrian Hallmark, said: "It has become clear that we need to take decisive action to adjust our production volumes for 2024 given a combination of supplier disruption, the weak macroeconomic envi.