We?ve alread­­­y reported on the decision by Aston Martin to relaunch the Lagonda brand with the daring Vision concept at the Geneva auto show, but we?ve also spoken to company CEO Andy Palmer about his longer-term plans for what is now a luxury-EV maker. For a start, he said, we should not see Lagonda as a direct rival to Britain?s other long-established top-flight sedan makers, although Palmer is keen to emphasize that Lagonda has a history longer than that of even Aston Martin.
The luxury market today, he said, is ?defined by Rolls-Royce and Bentley with the three-box sedan, and also by the growth of the luxury-SUV market in their area,? Palmer told us when we spoke to him about the new car in the United Kingdom. ?Today, what you have is a duopoly. They each to a large extent follow the way the other does their business. Personally, I don?t think the world needs another luxury three-box sedan, so we need another way to address the customer. Which means picking a customer who is slightly on the peripheries of that group. What we?ve done is look toward a slightly younger customer, somebody who is environmentally aware but nevertheless wealthy.? Palmer reckons that this is a group of buyers, including many affluent technology players, who are not being served by the established luxury market. ?Look at Tesla sales,? he said. ?Almost all Model S [cars] are fully spec’d, so there?s clearly not a wealth constraint there. It?s people wanting to have what is perceived ...