Aston Martin delays its first electric car, Lagonda sub-brand declared ‘dead’

Aston Martin has delayed the arrival of its first electric car citing a lack of customer demand, while also re-iterating it has cancelled plans for its Rolls-Royce-rivalling Lagonda sub-brand.

The British car maker previously announced plans for two electric vehicles launching from 2025 – a sports car and an SUV – and for every main-line Aston Martin model to offer the option of hybrid or electric power by 2026.

Now Aston Martin has pushed back the introduction of its first electric vehicle to 2026, confirming it will continue to offer petrol engines until they can no longer be fitted to new cars – without synthetic fuels – in the European Union from 2035.

«The consumer demand [for electric vehicles], certainly at an Aston Martin price point, is not what we thought it was going to be two years ago,” said executive chairman Lawrence Stroll, the car maker’s largest shareholder, as quoted by Reuters.

Aston Martin previously built several prototypes of an electric sedan – the Rapide E – which would have been its first production battery-powered vehicle with a limited run of 155 examples, but it was cancelled in 2020.

In the latest push-back of electric Aston Martins, Mr Stroll said the company has seen stronger demand for plug-in hybrid models, with its customer base wanting “some electrification … but [to] still have the sports car smell and feel and noise.”

That bodes well for the brand, having announced plug-in hybrid models across its line-up by 2026 using Mercedes-Benz technology.

The German car maker owns 9.7 per cent of Aston Martin and supplies engines and technology for its cars.

Mercedes-Benz announced in February 2024 it would pull back on electric vehicle targets of its own, citing similar lower-than-expected customer demand.

In June 2023, Aston Martin sold a 3.7 per cent stake in the company to US electric-car maker Lucid to help co-develop a platform for high-performance electric sports cars and SUVs.

The British brand also received £9 million ($AU11.4 million) in government funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) in October 2023 to fund electrification projects.

In December 2023, it began a recruitment drive for 400 additional staff at its UK