London - Aston Martin confirmed on Tuesday that Tobias Moers, CEO of Mercedes-AMG, is set to become chief executive off the British sports car specialist from the beginning of August, replacing Andy Palmer who stepped down on Monday.
The Financial Times newspaper reported over the weekend that Palmer would step down, before he had been informed. A source familiar with the situation had also confirmed to Reuters the planned move.
"The board has determined that now is the time for new leadership to deliver our plans," Lawrence Stroll, Aston Martin Lagonda's Executive Chairman said.
The company said Moers, who will be based at its headquarters in Warwickshire, had built a reputation for transforming businesses in tough environments during his 25 years in senior roles at Mercedes parent company Daimler.
Daimler AG owns a five percent stake in Aston Martin and supplies the carmaker with Mercedes-AMG V8 turbopetrol engines.
Aston Martin has seen its share price plummet since floating in October 2018.
The 107-year old British sportscar maker earlier this month posted a deep first-quarter loss after sales dropped by almost a third due to the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The company has been banking on its DBX SUV to drive sales in a new segment, and said production was on track.
In January, dire conditions forced the company to bring in Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll who bought a roughly 20% stake for nearly 200 million pounds (R4.6bn), as the ailing carmaker sought to raise funds.
"We were obviously fairly significantly hit by Covid-19, starting with China in January but more clearly in what we saw as it came across towards Europe and the United States," Palmer told Reuters earlier in May.
Reuters
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