There are quite a few Astons rolling around Cape Town. The Vantage models are as common as a Polo, but G-Man did spot a DB11 the other day, tottering around town. The lights at the back are pretty mental.

I checked out their Cape Town dealership website (here) and there aren’t any pre-owned models available for purchase, so it’s clearly new models that they focus on (not that they list any prices).

Luckily Cars.co.za gives us an idea of how much these cars are new, with that DB11 going for 4 bar. Aston Martin’s website does make mention of finance being available, but still, R80 000 a month to get a DB11 on HP is a bit hectic – what with school fees and all.

Not to get too distracted from the point of this article, I see cars.co.za has quite a lot of Astons available. The Vantage is a dime a dozen at a MINI Countryman comparable half a bar (here), whilst the most expensive used (sorry, ‘pre-owned’) Aston available is in fact the DB11 at R4,5 million and 1 000km on the clock.

The cheapest DB11 I could find was this one for R2,5 million – also with 1 000km on the clock. But I see now that it’s a 2018 model, rather than the 2019 model I mentioned above, at nearly double the price. I’d probably go for the 2018, given the saving. And anyway, I doubt any of the punters at Constantia Village would know the difference.

So anyway, back to James Bond.

So with the DB11 costing the same as a nice bachelor apartment in Clifton, one can understand that not everyone is queuing up to buy an Aston Martin. As a result, the company is having something of an Annus horribilis.

According to Sky News:

Aston Martin, the luxury carmaker associated with James Bond, has reported a further plunge in profits in a “challenging” market.

The company said it made a £92.3m pre-tax loss for the first nine months of 2019 – £13.5m of that was recorded in the third quarter to 30 September. It had achieved profits of £24m in the same nine month period in 2018.

Ouch.

Not that Aston should stress too much. As luck would have it, England’s most famous spy also happens to be a great car salesman.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said it was clear the company was looking for some “Bond magic” to improve its fortunes.

He wrote: “Aston Martin has been the butt of a few bond-themed barbs after securing $150m in senior secured bonds at a chunky 12% earlier this year.”

He said of the 25th edition of the Bond franchise: “It’s a good chance to showcase the new DBS Superleggera and Valhalla. It needs all the help it can get.”

That ‘Bond vs. bond’ joke in that quote is pretty good.

Imagine actually relying on a James Bond film to pull your company out of the dwang.

Good luck to them.

[source:skynews]