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Aston Martin to build new factory in Wales

Xinhua, February 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

Aston Martin, the iconic British car brand best known for its association with secret agent 007 James Bond, announced Wednesday it is to build a new factory in South Wales.

The new plant will create 750 highly skilled jobs and support a further 1,000 jobs in the supply chain. A further 250 new jobs will also be created at the company's existing base in England's West Midlands.

The company confirmed on Wednesday that a site at St Athan in Glamorgan has been chosen as the location for its second manufacturing facility where its new luxury DBX crossover vehicle will be manufactured.

"Aston Martin is an iconic British brand and the decision to invest here shows real confidence in our economy. " said British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The company will occupy around 29 hectares, at a current Ministry of Defense facility at St Athan, using three existing 'super-hangars', built to accommodate aircraft. Construction work on the car plant is planned to commence in 2017 with full vehicle production commencing in 2020.

St Athan will be the sole production facility for the new Aston Martin crossover vehicle. The concept crossover vehicle named 'DBX' was first shown in early 2015 and showed the company's intention and direction for what is a fast-growing segment of the luxury market.

With growing demand for these types of vehicles in markets such as China and the United States, it is expected that over 90 percent of the production from St Athan will be exported outside of Britain.

Aston Martin chief executive Dr Andrew Palmer said: "Through a detailed evaluation of over 20 potential global locations for this new manufacturing facility, we were consistently impressed with the focus on quality, cost and speed from the Welsh Government team. As a great British company, we look forward to St Athan joining Gaydon as our second centre of hand-crafted manufacturing excellence."

Production of Aston Martin's new all-electric RapidE model will be built at its factory at Gaydon in the West Midlands.

Secretary of State for Wales Stephen Crabb, said: "Today's announcement is an enormous boost for St Athan, for Wales and for the British car industry.This decision has reinforced Wales' position as an innovator and leader in the automotive sector." Endit