Thursday, October 15, 2009

Aston Appoints New Commercial Boss


A Rapide - not Mr Van der Sande
A Rapide - not Mr Van der SandeAston Martin has appointed Tesla's former vice president of marketing, Michael Van der Sande, as its new Chief Commercial Officer.

The appointment - which creates an entirely new role - is a clear indication of Aston Martin's confidence that it will comfortably weather the current economic storm. The move also helps to allay fears for the future of the company, after Aston's Kuwaiti backers revealed they were struggling to refinance their debts.

Van der Sande spent less than 12 months as Tesla's marketing boss, however, and is better known for the twelve years he spent in senior European marketing roles at Harley Davidson motorcycles.

"Michael brings a wealth of experience at a global level to Aston Martin and I am delighted to welcome him to the team" said Aston CEO Ulrich Bez. "His broad and successful experience on the global stage will help us to further develop Aston Martin's presence around the world."

So will we see the company moving into electric cars or motorbikes any time soon? It's probably fairly safe to rule out an Aston Martin motorbike, but Van der Sande's experience with developing and marketing electric cars would certainly be a boon to the company, should it decide to go down the battery-powered route.

Author: Riggers Get it off your chest...

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