Rapide makes major contribution to a very successful 2010 for Aston Martin across the GCC.

Adham Charanoglu, CEO Aston Martin
MEA India (AMMENA)

Kuwait 13 March, 2011 – Aston Martin, the luxury British sports car manufacturer, announces that 2010 saw the company increase its market share in the region’s luxury car segment compared to the previous year.

Sales were given a significant boost with the launch in May 2010 of the New Rapide, Aston Martin’s first luxury four door, four seater sports car. Within just seven months the vehicle had become one of the most popular new models in the Aston Martin range of vehicles.

General Manager Automotive AMMENA, Mark Kenworthy said that while the High Luxury Sports (HLS) segment was 11 percent down for the 12 months to December 2010, Aston Martin outperformed the previous year sales and as a consequence placed them ahead of the market.

Mr Kenworthy added “2010 was another hugely significant year for Aston Martin with the introduction of a number of exciting new models to add to the strongest product range in the company’s history. The Rapide was joined by a number of exclusive limited editions including the DBS and V12 Vantage Carbon Black, the DBS UB-2010 and the Vantage N420”  

Mark Kenworthy, GM Automotive
AMMENA

“During what was a difficult year we still received a lot of interest from investors especially in countries where we had no representation who wished to invest in the Aston Martin luxury brand. As a consequence we were pleased to welcome our new partners in Oman Al Hashar Group who opened during Quarter 3 following the development of a new facility in the popular area of Al-Sarooj. New appointments will continue to open during 2011 as we welcome new partners for Istanbul, Mumbai and Delhi all of whom will be fully operational by April 2011”.  

Mr. Adham Charanoglu, CEO of Aston Martin Middle East & North Africa (AMMENA) says he is delighted with the 2010 performance and very confident about 2011, with expansion into new markets in North Africa specifically Morocco as well as emerging markets including Kazakhstan.

“2011 will also see deliveries of One-77, the most elegant, refined and advanced sports car ever built by Aston Martin,” he says.

Finally, Mr Charanoglu went on to say “The Aston Martin Cygnet will go into production during 2011, this luxurious, compact, city car, which will offer an environmentally conscious vehicle for use in the urban context and will go into production at the company’s Gaydon headquarters in the UK from April and will continue to offer all of the usual craftsmanship present in all of our range”.