Aston Martin Eyes Alabama for US Plant

Aston Martin is considering building a plant in the U.S.

Speaking to Automotive News Europe, CEO Andy Palmer confirmed that Aston Martin will make a decision on building a second factory by the end of the year. According to Palmer, the state of Alabama is the “obvious choice” for the new plant, although a final decision hasn’t been made and China is also under consideration. Palmer noted that Aston Martin is narrowing potential locations to regions where it plans to sell the most DBX models, the company’s crossover.

“Our principal customers will be in the United States and China,” he said, but noted that a Chinese plant is logistically more complicated than in the U.S. since the automaker doesn’t have an established joint venture in the country and it’s more difficult to export vehicles from China.

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Aston Martin plans to launch the DBX crossover in 2019 as the company looks to increase sales to 15,000 units a year compared to 4,000 last year. Currently, Aston Martin’s plant in Gaydon builds all its vehicles but has limited room for growth. The option to expand the existing Gaydon plant is still on the table, but Aston Martin prefers to have an Alabama location that is close to where Mercedes-Benz builds its SUVs.

[Source: Automotive News]

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