Aston Martin (AML): Should you bet on this luxury automaker in 2022?

British luxury automaker Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc (LON: AML) announced its business update for the financial year ended 31 December 2021. The FTSE250 listed company sold 6,182 cars to dealers, a rise of 82% in wholesales (sales to dealers) during the period. The automaker also witnessed an increase in retail sales for DBX and GT/Sport variants.

High demand for niche products

The company saw high demand for its first sport utility vehicle (SUV), DBX. A total of 3,001 units of DBX SUV were sold in the first year of its production, emerging as the company’s best-seller brand, capturing an estimated 20% market share of the luxury SUV segment.

Aston Martin’s Valkyrie hypercar program, after an extensive testing and development phase, finally came into production with the delivery commencement of the limited-edition £3 million Valkyrie cars. The company will manufacture 150 units of Valkyrie and 25 of its track-only version Valkyrie AMR Pro.

Lower deliveries impacting EBITDA

Due to quality-focused production, fewer cars were delivered to the customers. Around 10 Valkyrie and Valkyrie AMR Pro vehicles were shipped to their owners in the fourth quarter. The remaining cars have already been allocated but have not yet been shipped to customers who have made significant deposits. As a result of fewer shipments than previously planned, the company expects its adjusted EBITDA to be lower by £15 million.

Despite a hit on the adjusted EBITDA, the company said the impact is temporary, and growth is expected to accelerate in 2022, focusing on delivering without compromising the production quality. In addition, the company plans to launch another variant of the DBX SUV to further gain the market share in the luxury car segment.

Stock Performance

(Image Source: Refinitiv)

After the announcement of its business update, the company’s stock saw buying interest from investors, moving up by 3.03% at GBX 1,412, with a day’s high of GBX 1,422 on 07 January 2021 at 10:40 am GMT+1, with a market cap of £1,596 million.

Aston Martin Lagonda is the only listed car manufacture from the luxury vehicle space in the London Stock Exchange. It is also working on a plug-in supercar to increase its consumer offering. The economic recovery after the pandemic has resulted in a demand surge for the company’s vehicle because of high household savings and pent-up demand.