McLaren and Aston Martin on the verge of collapse ?

I really don't need space age tech or battery packs or energy renewable systems in my F1...

I don't need robots or engineers or space age tech - in my American Football games... Just the way it's been played for a very long time.

Bring back the old school and lets go race.

Robb

 

I just think F1 just strayed too far from the objective. Being the pinnacle of Motorsport is a great goal... but it ought to be defined. Is having a $16-20 mm power unit make the series the pinnacle? I don't know. I don't think so when it comes at the expense of rules and regulation that ruin racing. When you have to slash other things at the cost of racing and fan support... is that valuable or even worth it? They keep reducing the number of power units for budget purposes because tit's so expensive... but what does that do to enhance racing? What does that do for the fan who saved up for a years to attend Monza, Silverstone, Spa... or any epic venue only to see their favorite driver at the back of the grid for no other reason that Kyvat rear ended them and took out their last gearbox and PU and now suffer the results the next race with no hope of winning. What's the point? That's just one small example of hundreds that I can list.

Should being the pinnacle be about technology and save a few gallons of gas or should it be about the most exciting racing on the planet with the fastest most brutal cars requiring the best of the worlds drivers to extract the performance?

 

Mac sales in the cellar...

https://www.planetf1.com/news/mclaren-q1-2020-finances/

McLaren Group record £175m loss in revenue

 

Wonder if Ricciardo

Wonder if Ricciardo has made a smart move ..

 

https://www.planetf1.com/news/aston-martin-announce-500-job-cuts/

 

Anyone seeing covid-19 specials on 765LTs from any dealerships stateside?

 

Just wait till next week thursday, I'm sure they'll release the 780 LT HT. Or something.

 

That came out yesterday. Friday is the release of the 780 LT HT Mk II.

 

I'd be pissed if I just paid list. Would've lost 40K by now! 60K is a lot of money to lose in such a short amount of time. Surely that 80K is better spend elsewhere?

 

Will Stroll be able to save Aston? I dont see alot of 'good' so far and now FT has this -

The Financial Times reports that it will raise 260 million pounds, in a combination of new debt—at an interest rate of 12 percent—and a sale of shares, together worth around 20 percent of its business.

From the FT:

The latest fundraising is part of a plan by new chairman Lawrence Stroll to overhaul the company that has seen him name a new chief executive and finance boss and clear out the group’s board.

Mr Stroll, a Canadian billionaire with a background in luxury clothing and motor racing, led a £540m rescue deal earlier in the year, with the promise to revive the company. Its shares have sunk more than 90 per cent since listing in late 2018.

The group booked a £120m loss in the three months to March, and on Wednesday Mr Stroll announced “further steps to improve financial flexibility in a period of ongoing uncertainty with this additional funding to execute the business plan”.

Now is probably a good time to point out that Stroll is a billionaire. Raising 260 million pounds seems strange in that context. Why? Why doesn’t Stroll just dump that money in himself? What’s even the point of being a billionaire if you can’t dump all your money into something?

The good news for Aston is that it is expected to start delivery of the DBX some time later this year, and its plant in St. Athan, Wales, is back up and running to make it. The bad news is that when companies start resorting to tactics like taking on expensive debt just to keep the lights on, that suggests that they are in real trouble.

Aston also has the Valkyrie still coming, which the FT says will appear sometime next year. That’s, you know, if Aston gets that far. Investors certainly don’t have much confidence, as Aston became a penny stock earlier this year after the stock price fell off a cliff in May

 

Why don't we make a sticky of "teams that are ****ed up" and put all this stuff there?

 

We do, it’s called the F1 section..

 

I saw this morning where Aston wants to issue new stock to raise capital.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/aston-martin-issues-new-shares-fundraising-drive#:~:text=Aston%20Martin%20will%20issue%20new,recover%20from%20the%20coronavirus%20pandemic.

 

See Financial Times data 3 posts above

 

Why would an investor invest in Aston Martin?

 

“further steps to improve financial flexibility in a period of ongoing uncertainty with this additional funding to execute the business plan”.

Text book language of Economists and Strategists and Financial specialists trying to paint a rosy picture but deep inside they know its a lost cause
I strongly suspect Mr Stroll money is safe elsewhere, and this may be a maneuver to liquidate de company and collect a return after pieces are auctioned off.
Distressed companies always offer an opportunity to profit from their death....

 

This could be a possibility now. I think initially he had desires to 'turn around' the company. Corona has put an impact to that for sure. I think Stroll has serious intentions overall but one thinks he has 'options' as well. He has the books and data from the company directly with him and all advice. With uncertainty in the market due to the pandemic I dont see how Aston remains viable. The market is not short of 'luxury' SUV's at all E power or not. They have unsold inventory and dealers who are not making money. Your assessment certainly one of his options.

 

Papa Stroll doesn't have scruples. He will do what's best for him, he doesn't give a **** about Aston Martin heritage or the families of its employees.

 

Stroll is saying, "I could pull this off if we could raise the finances to execute my plan." BTW, the "finances" are other people's money. That's how one escapes responsibility for a screw-up and remains a billionaire. The 12% interest is what will kill them unless they can return to gross profits at a rate that is double the interest rate. But, there is no way in hell they can do that, so within 36 months the creditors will own Aston.

 

I predict less time for the collapse. 18 months if no significant market turn around for Aston and others. I can see more 'marginal' makers folding up with further time and disruption in the business affected corona cycle we are in. Stroll does not appear as a 'patient' individual.

 

Agree, we saw that with Williams already.

 

From personal experience: he is short tempered.

 

So Benz has a 5% stake in Aston, yet Aston will.no longer be using thier engines. Aston seems to want to move engine production in house with a tt v6 powerplant. A company who is short on funds would never do such an expensive thing..as far as I know anyway..

 

McLaren gets £150 million loan from Bahrain bank
2020 F1 season
Posted on

29th June 2020, 13:48 | Written by Keith Collantine

The McLaren Group, which owns the McLaren Formula 1 team, is to receive a loan of £150 million from the National Bank of Bahrain.
The loan was confirmed by the bank in a statement on Monday.

McLaren is seeking additional sources of funding due to the economic impact of the pandemic. Last month it announced extensive job cuts involving around 1,200 of its 4,000-strong workforce. A smaller number of staff, around 70, are to leave the Racing division which includes its F1 team.

The Bahrain sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat is the majority shareholder in the group.

McLaren’s earnings from Formula 1 have declined in recent years due to a series of poor results. It slipped as low as ninth in the constructors’ championship standings in 2015 and 2017 as it struggled with an uncompetitive Honda power unit.

Its switch to Renault power in 2018 only lifted it as high as sixth in the championship that year. However a much improved 2019 campaign, with a new driver line-up of Carlos Sainz Jnr and Lando Norris, saw the team rise to fourth place and score its first podium finish for five years.

The team is one of just five which receives bonus payments under F1’s prize money structure, though they are worth considerably less than those received by Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes.

Don't miss anything new from RaceFans
Follow RaceFans on social media:

 

In house engines is a crazy expense and a poor strategy