Andy Palmer was a familiar face firmly associated Nissan, where he was second in command after Carlos Ghosn.
Now, he’s left for Aston Martin where he’s been made CEO, but a Reuters report suggests he was actually proposing Nissan buy a stake in the British maker of GT cars prior to his departure.
It had apparently been Palmer’s desire for a few years now to get a piece of the Aston action into the Nissan stables, but his proposals didn’t materialize (for unknown/unspecified reasons). And yet, the fact that he manifested interest in Aston Martin probably helped pave the way for his new position as CEO.
This, coupled with the fact that Infiniti (Nissan’s posh arm) was on a quest to deepen its cooperation with Daimler which owns 5 percent of Aston, probably sealed the deal.
Aston Martin is in need of a major shakeup, and while things are starting to look up for it, its ageing range of models will only keep it afloat for so long. It needs a major injection of modernity and renewed verve – Palmer and the (possibly deepening) Daimler cooperation may be just what was required; a passionate, visionary company leader is part of that equations solved.
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