Aston Martin said Monday it planned to sell its stake in its eponymous Formula 1 team.
The sale could raise at least $95 million, according to Bloomberg, though Aston said it was not an indication that the team was leaving Formula 1. In fact, Aston said it was a sign that the team would be in F1 for “decades.” Billionaire Lawrence Stroll, who is chairman of Aston Martin and who controls its F1 team as a separate concern, also confirmed that Aston Martin would be a sponsor for its F1 team for the long haul.
“With a long-term sponsorship agreement cementing the existing relationship between Aston Martin and the Aston Martin F1 Team, our brand will remain present and competing at the pinnacle of motorsport for many years to come,” Stroll said in a statement. “Now five years into Aston Martin’s transformation, I remain highly confident about the company’s medium-term prospects, having re-positioned the company as one of the most desirable ultra-luxury high-performance automotive brands.”
Stroll might also be looking to take Aston Martin private, Bloomberg reported, since he believes the publicly traded company—currently valued at around $640 million by the market—is “severely undervalued.” Stroll also called that value a “joke,” Bloomberg said. A later statement from the company said that a deal to go private wouldn’t be happening any time soon.
Regardless, Aston Martin has been under financial strain lately, announcing plans to cut 5 percent of its workforce earlier this year and indicating that it would slow the rollout of new road-going models after recent years in which the automaker did so at a breakneck pace. Adding another complication is the specter of President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on passenger cars, light trucks, and auto parts imported to the U.S. The tariffs, which are slated to go into effect on April 2, are expected to impact consumers at all levels of the industry.
At the same time, Aston Martin’s F1 team has been showing some renewed ambition, hiring F1 car designer legend Adrian Newey to improve its competitiveness. That is a long-term bet, too, with Newey’s full influence on the team not expected to be felt until next season, when rule changes come into play as well. Stroll largely bankrolls the operation, too, so his continued optimism about the carmaker and its F1 team are as good indications as any that they aren’t going anywhere.
