+1 Bez did very little for AM

 

I do hope so, he has Aston in his hands. Personally, I would have preferred to see him with some direct premium or exotic experience. Something perhaps more along the lines of the experience that Bez had at Porsche earlier in his career.

 

I agree that experience in exotics would help, but what Aston needs is a commercial boost - they need to become viable in the long-run. So long as he doesn't ruin the exotic qualities of the brand, he should do well.

However, I'm worried that the qualities and characteristics of AM that we love will be whittled away in the name of efficiency and regulations - electronic power steering, function over form, AND THE LOSS OF A MANUAL TRANSMISSION IN ALL CAPS FOR EMPHASIS.

 

The 370Z is still available with a manual gearbox (as is the Corvette and some Porsche models). The manual is not dead yet.

 

I know very little about Andrew Palmer so I can't directly speculate to the impact he will or won't make for AM. But I do know that I absolutely HATE the work that Nissan has done these past 5 years. Seriously! It's one of my favorite brands to bash on as of late simply because they have made it so EASY by producing 3 of my least favorite cars ever to hit the road. And they did all 3 right in a row within 5 years span. -Quite an accomplishment! Let tick them off.

1. Nissan Juke. I call it the Nissan JOKE. Looks just like some alien frog. Those ugly headlights. It stupid tall stance. the sloping line from the top of the windscreen that finishes off the froggy look! What to totally stupid, ugly, cartoon of a car.

2. The convertible Nissan Murano. Good lord could this have been the worst design decision EVER in the history of car makers! Talk about a confused design. Here's an idea lets take a crappy sport ute and make it less utility than it even was by chopping the top to make a senseless convertible. Because what does every convertible car owner want? a tall SUV! Seriously! Stupidest idea EVER!!!! The result is a car that looks like those rubber sandals, crocks! It manages to do everything really poorly all at once! SO BAD!

3. Nissan Cube. This thing was cutting edge and bold for all of 5 minutes! Its the worst of the box cars. It's one of those examples of car that should only have been a show car concept and somehow made it's way into production for some unknown reason. Mark my words, love it or hate it now… History ultimately will remember it as a car to LOVE to HATE! The ripple effect headliner around the large living room style dome light is the icing on the cake of this mess of a car.

So PLEASE, for the love that all is holy! let's hope that Palmer agrees with me, or that he knows enough to keep design away from any nissan influence!

 

Time to pile on. Yeah, I can't think of many other large auto companies who's top brass I'd trust less with Aston Martin. Now, this guy was only one cog in a very large machine and I'll accept that he may have been behind the best of the stuff going on at Nissan. But, a car guy's company, Nissan is not.

But what do I know about running a car company. Exactly nothing. I have no idea what AM really needs but a product that inspires demand above production (prancing horse anyone?) would be a good target.

 

He's been involved in developing Infiniti as a premium brand
I guess he may also have some input to Nismo, the GTR and the Z cars
I'd say that is good background and experience

 

Wish I could feel excited and not Yikes! AM needs to get ahead of the rumbling and put some spin on this, siting a previous accomplishment of the new hire that is commensurate with what has already been done at AM. For the sake of perception, the greater the distance between he and his tenure at Nissan the better. BTW I loved every infinity I owned.

 

To be fair, it really is just about the fact that anyone coming from Nissan, Toyota, or Honda is going to rattle most of us car guys right?

I mean REALLY when was the last time you were passionate about a Honda, or Toyota an sonly till the Nissan GTR, Nissan. These 3 big brands of the 90's and 2000's have kinda had their day in terms of excitement… Hell I hate to admit it but a KIA Optima is turning my head more than the other 3. The big 3 Japan brands have become so sleepy in the design dept. They rely so heavily on technology and bells and whistles. The cars all seem to be "phoned in consumer issued designs"

It's as exciting as buying a can of corn at the supermarket. Even Lexus and Infinity are just fancier more expensive cans of corn in my book. (except the LFA which is very expensive and in my opinion still lacks the passion of brand like a Ferrari or Lambo or Aston).

The car market is currently redividing the mindshare of the consumers. Hell look at Hyundai and Kia! Seriously those companies have come in and STOLEN marketshare like nobody's business! And somehow that still doesn't sit right. Mazda is another brand that "thinks they have hit their stride" while I think the market is really saying: same, same, same...

 

Funny how the American forum is all apprehensive about the appointment of Palmer whilst the British forum is very enthusiastic and hopeful about it.

 

Well, first, he's a Brit, so I'd expect support. Also, they have less collective experience in the UK with the soul-free driving that is the basis of most Japanese marques.

I like to imagine that after the lost decades of the home marques, Brits are still quite impressed by the Japanese philosophy of electrical systems that work, oil that stays inside the engine, parts that match, that sort of thing. I see it as rooting for a hometown lad who's gone off an learned the mystical secrets and now promises to bring them home.

 

Your imagining wrong!
The Japanese invasion of the UK roads ended ~15 years ago, Honda, Subaru and Toyota are all losing market share. Its all Korean now
The fact he is British has nothing to do with it for me.
I like his experience and the achievements of Nissan/Infiniti whilst he's been somewhere near the top
The other person/s I'd have liked to see in the mix was who ever turned Lambo, Bentley or Maserati

 

It's alot easier to turn a company around when you have development money and infinite resources (as in the case of Maserati, Bentley and Lamborghini). Aston has limited funds so everything becomes much harder. Andy has some challenges facing him and it will be interesting to see how he deals with them. I wish him luck and hope that his first order of business is changing the turn signal and windshield wiper stalks. Lol.

 

Same with the US to a point... While Japanese brands are still doing well, Korea is becoming what Japan once was.

 

It's really sad to see how Japanese cars have evolved over the last decade. I used to have a 2005 Subaru STi that I LOVED. I still miss that car. It was a ton of fun to drive, it felt raw, and I modified it quite a bit so it was a torque monster with endless grip. It was an amazing car.

I've missed having a Subaru to play around with so I went and drove a BRZ when those first came out. I wanted something that would be a fun little track car - a buddy got one for the same reason and loved it until to blew it up lol.

So I took the BRZ for a test drive and HATED it. It was the most numb car I've driven in a very, very long time. I've had surgeries where I was fully sedated and unconscious and still felt more sensation than I did in the BRZ. In fact, the BRZ is the reason why I have no intention of going back to a Japanese marque. I've got my '06 4Runner (which also has more driving sensation than the BRZ lol) and I'll run it into the ground. As for another Japanese car? I'll pass.

Point is, if Andy turns the Vantage into a BRZ - I'm done. If I can't feel it, I'm not driving it.