- Business Secretary visits Aston Martin after announcing £9
million funding to drive cutting-edge net zero projects,
supporting over 2,500 local jobs.
- Builds on government support for UK auto and EV sectors and
recent major investments from Tata, BMW and Stellantis, securing
jobs and growing the economy.
- £9 million funding will help Aston Martin develop
cutting-edge luxury battery electric vehicle platform.
Business Secretary visited Aston Martin’s HQ in
Warwickshire today (20 October), where she met with apprentices
and senior leaders and learnt more about the company’s
high-performance electrification strategy.
The visit comes after the Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
announced almost £9 million in government funding through the
Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) to develop Aston Martin’s EV
technology - supporting over 2,500 local jobs and helping to grow
the local economy.
The project will help accelerate the development of a luxury
battery EV platform to drive forward a route to net zero,
including vehicle light weighting, a digital toolchain and
electrification training.
The Government is also working with industry via the Automotive
Transformation Fund to unlock investment in an internationally
competitive EV supply chain. The ATF has delivered significant
results, including Tata’s recent announcement of over £4 billion
to build a new gigafactory in the UK. Offers made to date under
the ATF are expected to leverage more than £6 billion in private
investment.
This follows a previous £1 billion investment in Sunderland by
Nissan and Envision AESC, £600 million investment by BMW to
transform the Oxford MINI plant, £380 million investment in
Halewood by Ford, £100 million in electric van production at
Stellantis in Ellesmere Port, and £60 million in Hertfordshire by
Johnson Matthey.
Business Secretary said:
Aston Martin is one of the UK’s most well-renowned brands, most
successful exporters, and I was delighted to visit their HQ in
Warwickshire today and see the fantastic work that goes on
here.
The Government is backing our automotive sector, as can be seen
with our recent APC award to Aston Martin and others, to ensure
we secure high-quality jobs and investment across the UK and
develop a resilient and prosperous car industry for the future.
Luxury brands are a unique strength in the UK’s auto sector, with
75-90 percent of Aston Martin’s vehicles exported.
During the visit the Business Secretary praised Aston Martin for
flying the flag for British luxury car exports overseas and
helping to drive innovation in UK advanced engineering.
Michael Straughan, Executive Consultant to Aston Martin’s
CEO said:
We were honoured to welcome the Business Secretary to Gaydon
today, providing a valuable opportunity to showcase the huge
potential of the UK’s luxury car industry and outline our
high-performance electrification strategy, which has been boosted
by funding from the APC.
As a growing, export-led business, Aston Martin is proud to serve
as flagbearer for British advanced engineering and is passionate
about working with the government to maximise opportunities for
economic growth and to support high quality employment.”
Maintaining a competitive business environment to stimulate
growth and productivity is critical to the future of UK
manufacturing and we will take decisive action to ensure future
investment in zero emission vehicle manufacturing.
We already have a proven track record of backing UK automotive,
including a longstanding and comprehensive programme of support
featuring the ATF, the APC, Faraday Battery Challenge and Driving
the Electric Revolution.
The APC collaborates with UK Government, the automotive industry
and academia to accelerate the industrialisation of technologies,
supporting the transition to deliver net-zero emission vehicles.
Government and industry have jointly invested more than £1.4
billion in automotive R&D via the APC.
Since its foundation in 2013 the APC, through government, has
funded 261 low-carbon projects involving 480 partners, working
with companies of all sizes, and will have helped to create or
safeguard over 58,000 jobs in the UK.
The technologies developed in these projects are projected to
save over 400 million tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of removing
the lifetime emissions from 16.1 million cars.
