Aston Martin Chairman Lawrence Stroll has approached Steven Armstrong, a senior Ford Motor government, to gauge his curiosity in turning into CEO of the British automaker, based on folks acquainted with the matter

Stroll reached out to Armstrong, a former chairman of Ford Europe, twice final month, based on one of many folks, who requested to not be recognized as a result of the discussions have been preliminary.

No provides have been made and Armstrong, 57, has made no choice to go away Ford, the place he has labored for greater than 25 years and at present serves as transformation officer over South America and India.

The outreach by Stroll raises additional questions on the way forward for Aston CEO Tobias Moers, the previous head of Mercedes-Benz’s AMG efficiency division whom Stroll employed months after main an funding consortium’s rescue of Aston in early 2020.

Stroll, 62, denied a report by motoring publication Autocar on Friday that Moers’ future at Aston was unsure, telling the Monetary Instances that it was “”categorically not true” and that he was “completely not engaged in anyway in trying to change Tobias.”

A spokesman for Aston mentioned Stroll declined additional interviews on the matter and had no additional remark to make. Armstrong couldn’t be reached for remark.

Aston introduced Friday that fourth-quarter earnings might be about 15 million kilos ($20 million) decrease than anticipated after the automaker delivered fewer Valkyrie supercars than anticipated.

The corporate shipped simply 10 models of the two.4 million-pound mannequin earlier than year-end, falling wanting its goal.

The launch of the Valkyrie has been suffering from electronics points, folks acquainted with the matter advised Bloomberg Information final month.

Moers, 55, has likened producing the Valkyrie to assembling a System 1 automobile on an meeting line.

“It is probably the most complicated automobile I ever noticed in my life to assemble,” he mentioned in a November interview.