Aston Martin confirms exit of CEO Palmer

Luxury car maker Aston Martin confirmed the departure of chief executive Andy Palmer and his replacement by Mercedes-AMG boss Tobias Moers.

Keith Stanton, currently vice-president and chief manufacturing operations officer, was appointed interim chief operating officer to support chairman, Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll until Moers starts on August 1.

The changes come after a report in the Financial Times on the weekend that Palmer was being removed following a 98% collapse in the company’s share price since it floated on the stock market less than two years ago.

Stroll on Tuesday said the board had decided “now is the time for new leadership to deliver our plans”.

Palmer had been CEO since 2014 after long stints at Nissan and Infiniti. He played a key role in the launch of the DBX SUV and Aston Martin’s new fleet of mid-engined supercars and hypercar, the Valkyrie, Valhalla, and Vanquish.

However, the US-China trade war and coronavirus pandemic hurt sales, and the company said earlier this month that its losses had blown out to £119m in the first three months of the year in response to Covid-19.