The Aston Martin DBX — a model that will be made available in hybrid and all-electric versions, in addition to a petrol/gas one — will be manufactured in south Wales, according to a recent announcement.
The new model will be produced at a super-hanger in St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, thereby creating roughly 750 new, high-skill jobs. In addition to these positions, an estimated 1,000 new jobs are expected to be created at local suppliers and businesses.
The decision follows the closing of a deal two years in the making that saw Wales beat out 20 other locations around the globe.
BBC News provides more:
Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer called it a “momentous day for Wales” at a news conference in Cardiff on Wednesday. The development will include a skills academy, which will make St Athan and the Vale of Glamorgan a centre of excellence.
Work on the factory will start in 2017 and production will start three years later. The company is also bringing more work to its factory and headquarters at Gaydon in Warwickshire bringing the total of jobs created to 1,000.
The value of the deal is in the hundreds of millions of pounds, although the Welsh government will not comment on the amount of support it is giving.
…The prototype was unveiled at the Geneva motor show last year and is expected to cost at least £160,000 to buy. The car will start off as a petrol vehicle before being developed into a hybrid and all-electric 4×4.
The company’s CEO commented on the choice of Wales: “The Welsh offer wasn’t financially enticing but share holders had to understand the balance that had to be made on quality, cost, and time, and St Athan was on time. We don’t have to build a building. It won through in terms of quality of workforce and supplies and relationship with the government of Wales.”
Interestingly, while Wales has a notable automotive parts manufacturing sector there, haven’t actually been any whole cars built there (commercially, of course) since the early 1970s. The Aston Martin DBX will be the first in quite a number of decades.