The Aston Martin DBX SUV was meant to be a bellwether halo car, an SUV sales shifter that would turn around the flagging fortunes of the luxury supercar brand. But it arrived in the midst of major corporate upheaval and a global pandemic. During a media interview with the Financial Times, Aston Martin’s new Chief Executive Tobias Moers may have inadvertently revealed that the DBX is selling in lower volumes than predicted. Tobias Moers is the former boss of Mercedes AMG, and was handpicked by Mercedes to lead the rejuvenation of Aston Martin. 

Moers told the FT that he would leave “no corner untouched” which is coded language for cost-cutting measures. Indeed Moers is moving away from Andy Palmer’s Ferrarisation business model and returning the company to a determined focus on engineering. Under Moers’ new plan, Aston Martin will release 10 derivatives of existing models over the next two years. The DBX will have two new derivatives.

Moers intends to return out-sourced development work to in-house staus. However, Aston Martin will boost its reliance on German engineering technology partnerships for efficiency purposes. The future of the V12 remains unclear due to emissions regulations. However, Moers did reveal that sales of the DBX SUV had been gathering “momentum” in China. 

That statement doesn’t sound positive. If the DBX was selling well then Moers would have been more detailed in his answer, such as demand is outstripping supply. Aston Martin sold around 1,700 vehicles in the first half of 2020, down 64 percent on the year before. Nevertheless, Moers expects profitability to return in 2023. But with DBX sales only gathering momentum one has to question whether Aston Martin will be around in 2023.