Has the hate killed Ferrari’s EV? We asked Aston Martin’s boss

Luxury car buyers are snubbing EVs while mainstream car buyers continue to set the zero emissions pace. Aston Martin and Lamborghini have put their first electric cars on ice, Bentley has slowed its Luxury Urban EV – the Torcal’s – introduction and Ferrari’s Luce EV was unveiled into a firestorm of critical bullets. 

Adrian Hallmark ran Bentley for six years before jumping ship to become Aston Martin’s CEO. And one of his first decisions after joining in September 2024 was to pause Aston’s electric ambitions – due to simple commercial logic. “The lack of Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) adoption means for Aston Martin to take that gamble was crazy,” says the boss. 

“It’s probably three-to-four years before we need to properly start those programmes,” he continues. And given Aston lost £189-million before tax last year, it could do with ploughing its cash into vehicles with the greatest chance of profits.  

And will Ferrari’s Luce – styled by Apple designer Sir Jony Ive – be commercially dead on arrival, following its critical mauling? “I don’t think so,” ventures Hallmark. “I know [luxury buyers] still want to be in the same class of vehicle. If an EV is more powerful, has still got the leather, fit and finish, the feel and everything, [people will ultimately switch].”

But he’s very clear on what will hasten the transition: taxation. Aside from his twin Ultramarine Black Astons – a DB12 Volante and Vanquish coupe, both with copper tan interiors – and the family’s EVs, Hallmark also drives a G-Class from Aston’s V8-engine supplier Mercedes-Benz. It’s not the electric version but a G63 AMG, packing a 577bhp V8 that will land him a €6,000 tax bill in Switzerland this year. “When the tax bill becomes unbearable,” he reckons, the multi-millionaire exodus will start. 

Jaguar Land Rover is also on the go-slow introducing its electric Range Rovers – the flagship EV is running two years late – and its make-or-break electric Jaguar Type 01. This four-door Gran Turismo is set to cost from around £100,000, a market Porsche’s Taycan initially stormed before sales slipped away.

Rolls-Royce claims to be the one luxury player with a successful EV – the Spectre coupe. “Everyone knows what characteristics to expect with Rolls-Royce: silence, waftability, seemingly endless power and easy driving,” CEO Chris Brownridge told this year’s FT Future of the Car Summit. 

“With a perfectly engineered electric powertrain in a Rolls Royce, it actually amplifies the characteristics you expect of our motor cars. The Spectre has been a great success for us: last year it was our second best-selling motor car.” Expect a volume in excess of 1,000 cars; last year Rolls-Royce delivered 5,660 limousines. 

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