Tobias Moers

Stroll appoints Mercedes chief as Aston Martin president

2020 F1 season

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Racing Point team owner Lawrence Stroll has appointed a long-time Mercedes executive as the new president of carmaker Aston Martin.

The move links Stroll’s F1 team, which will be re-branded as Aston Martin next year, more closely with the German manufacturer. Racing Point already uses Mercedes power units, other hardware and their wind tunnel, while Aston Martin road cars use Mercedes engines.

Tobias Moers, who has spent more than 25 years in senior roles at Mercedes’ parent company Daimler, will take over from Aston Martin’s current president and group chief executive Dr Andy Palmer. Moers has spent the last seven years in charge of performance division Mercedes AMG as chairman of its management board and chief executive officer.

Stroll said Moers is “an exceptionally talented automotive professional and a proven business leader with a strong track record during his many years at Daimler AG, with whom we have a longstanding and successful technical and commercial partnership, which we look forward to continuing.”

“He is the right leader for Aston Martin Lagonda as we implement our strategy for the business to achieve its full potential,” Stroll added. “Our ambition for the company is significant, clear and only matched by our determination to succeed.”

Moers said: “I have always had a passion for performance cars and relish the chance to work for this iconic brand which I was close to on the technical side at the beginning of the partnership between the two companies.

“Following the arrival of Lawrence, as executive chairman, the significant investment from his Yew Tree Consortium, the completion of the equity raise and the reset, I believe that there is a significant opportunity to harness the strengths of the business to successfully deliver the planned product expansion and brand elevation.”

Stroll thanked outgoing president Palmer “for his hard work, personal commitment and dedication to Aston Martin Lagonda since 2014.”

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17 comments on “Stroll appoints Mercedes chief as Aston Martin president”

  1. Another demonstration of how serious Stroll is about Aston as a car producer and racing team.

    Another enticement for those thinking of investing time and talent in the team.

    1. Could also just demonstrate that he can pay anything to take Mercedes technology to buy his son championship in F1.

      1. Right now it seems more like he wants to return a massive profit from his 200 million investment.

        You don’t become a billionaire by letting your 200 million investment go bad.

        Where does that put Lance?

        Let me pose a hypothetical question if Ferrari cannot buy a championship for Vettel, how could Stroll buy a championship for Lance?

        I don’t think there is money in the world, that could under current regulations just a buy a championship, unless Mercedes decide to sell it.

        But if there was, how much would it take for Lance a proven F1 driver of many talents to get the job done?

        He is not the worst paydriver in the history of the sport, and probably best funded one. Good thing is his youth.

        But right now only people with Championships in recent times are.. Lewis and Lewis… oh and the “other” Lewis.

        Vettel and Kimi are ancient history.

        Bringing a B-team with B-driver would take amazing investment, which might not be possible under current purposed cost cuts.

        1. This is perhaps the smartest analysis and opinion I’ve ever seen on the topic of f1… well done

    2. Witan, Stroll’s money is also not unlimited, and the current crisis means that Aston Martin is burning through cash much, much faster than anybody thought they might barely six months ago.

      Their finances were already looking very poor by the end of 2019, with the company losing over £100 million and their debts just under £1 billion (the high cash burn and the high debt to earnings ratio is why they have pretty poor credit ratings – CCC+ with a negative outlook, making their bonds officially “junk bonds”). It’s also part of the reason why, earlier this year, the finance chief quietly quit the company.

      In the first quarter of 2020, they made a loss of £119 million, which has seen their debts rise even further – and this quarter is potentially going to be even worse, as quite a few of their dealerships didn’t shut until April or May.

      Even though Stroll added another £20 million to bring their emergency funding drive in March from £500 million to £536 million, two weeks ago Aston Martin suggested that they are going to have to go for a second round of emergency funding.

      The fact that they’re already talking about having to raise more money less than two months after that earlier fundraising round suggests that Tobias Moers has some major crisis management work on his hands – there is a reason why quite a few are now wondering if Aston Martin is burning through its cash too rapidly and are going to end up going into their 8th bankruptcy in the near future.

  2. What do Germans know about making classic British cars?

    In any case, what does this mean? AM will become Mercedes luxury brand?

    What does this mean for F1? Mercedes B-Team? They are well positioned to capitalize in to the future. Williams will be C team? McLaren X-team?

    Mercedes will now more or less control nearly half the grid. Things are looking good for future involvement in F1.

    1. What do Germans know about making classic British cars?

      Considering the success of RR (BMW) and Bentley (VW), quite a lot actually…

      And yes, since every F1 team wants the Mercedes PU, Daimler will use this to exert as much influence as possible over the F1 grid.

    2. Germans have been quite successful in the UK (Rolls Royce, Bentley, and Mini).

      But @jureo, don’t forget that this is not Mercedes increasing its share in AML, but merely one of their managers resigning and taking on the top job (with a ridiculous title) at AML.
      And it is even further removed from meddling with the F1 team, which is a separate entity (for now).
      Thus, for now, the F1 has nothing to do with it and they will remain a normal customer of PU’s and gearboxes as they were in the past.

      1. Well on paper they are independent normal customers. But let’s say this guy has 25 years worth of friends at Mercedes.

        I am sure connection will become stronger now.

        1. Given how much Aston Martin cars’ performance will depend on working well with and getting the most out of a Mercedes supplied core of the car, having a guy in charge who more or less WAS the Mercedes performance division for the last few decades feels like a smart step @jureo.

          I would say they are likely to want to bring in some of the guys at AMG who did the performance tuning to make those Astons cars drivers will want.

  3. I am surprised how few here can see beyond the ‘buy his son’ a race seat. Stroll doesn’t waste money and the dynamic culture he seems to want to create might be very attractive to talent of all sorts.

    1. I am surprised how few here can see beyond the ‘buy his son’ a race seat.

      It’s not that many peddling that story, Witan, they just keep repeating it annoyingly often.
      Must have something to do with toys their fathers didn’t buy them when they were (even) younger ;)

  4. Oh please, Lance Stroll is a playboy racer. He’s never going to win anything. He’s fluked a couple of podiums, but many other drivers have done that. When the time comes, he might join his father’s business, but that seems unlikely.

    Stroll Snr has enough money to indulge his son’s hobbies, as does his daughter who fancies herself as a singer. He’s bought Aston Martin to make money, which might be used to support the F1 team. He’s certainly not trying to buy Lance a WDC, he’s not good enough, as we can see when he races. Next year McLaren are going to be using Mercedes engines, they also build cars. Cars that don’t have Mercedes engines. Which team is likely to do best in F1 in 2021, McLaren or Aston Martin/Racing Point?

    1. People keep taking digs at Lance and I get the fact that he is a pay driver, but he isn’t that bad. Is this a matter of jealousy? Who wouldn’t want to be in his position if your parent/s could afford it? I know i would!!!

      I would say he’s probably one of the better ones we’ve had over the last season (or 2). The lack of F1 has had me re-watch a few of the races from 2018 and 2019 and Lance’s racecraft is really not that bad. He has some struggles during qualifying but if he gets that sorted out he is a pretty good driver. No, he is not on the level of Leclerc or Verstappen but he can hold his own.

      1. Practically every driver on the grid has started out as a pay driver. It costs a fortune to race and the majority have to hawk themselves to potential sponsors to get a start. Stroll Jnr might not have required external help, so he’s not got the ‘need’ to succeed that others have, that’s why I described him as a playboy.

        When he is on screen, it’s usually because he’s about to be overtaken, even when he’s in a good position, I don’t feel he puts up much of a fight to stay in front. He appears to be happy to run round on his own, he avoids the close stuff, the real racing that we see from the top flight of drivers.

  5. Maybe the hope / plan is that Mercedes pulls out of F1 and team personnel migrate to Aston Martin. Toto Wolff’s investment in the company could hint at that, as does the appointment of AMG chief executive Moers now.

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