Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc saw strong demand for its pricier limited edition vehicles, helping the British carmaker boost its average selling price and offset a drop in deliveries.

The company delivered 118 of its “special” models in the first six months of the year, up from 38 a year earlier, led by the Valkyrie and Valour supercar models, which will set buyers back at least US$3 million and US$1 million, respectively. This lifted the average selling price by 29% to £274,000 , it said on Wednesday. 

Revenue, though, fell 11% to £603 million, as sales of luxury SUVs plunged. Still, the results were slightly better than analysts expected, and the company stuck to its guidance. The shares rose as much as 12% in early London trading, having fallen by almost a third this year.

Aston Martin is in the middle of a turnaround led by executive chairman Lawrence Stroll. The Canadian billionaire has been forced to tap investors for funds repeatedly since rescuing the company in 2020, bringing in new shareholders such as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. 

The company - which has long been associated with the James Bond movies - is trying to cash in on the growing popularity of Formula One racing as it looks to launch new models more frequently than in the past. The F1 team is owned by Stroll and is separate to the listed carmaker.

Aston Martin saw its pretax loss widen to £216.7 million from £142.2 million a year earlier as it sold a third fewer cars in the first half. The drop was led by a 67% decline in SUV deliveries, which the carmaker attributed to the introduction of its newer DBX707 model. 

Aston Martin has also been winding down production of its older Vantage sports car model. Deliveries of Aston Martin’s cars fell by the most in the Americas region, which saw a 40% drop.

Former Bentley Motors Ltd boss Adrian Hallmark is joining as chief executive officer as of Sept 1, earlier than initially planned, the company announced on Wednesday. Hallmark is taking over from 77-year-old Amedeo Felisa to become the fourth CEO since Stroll arrived and is tasked with helping to revive the share price.

  - Bloomberg