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With the global car companies wantonly carrying out electrification transformation, electric technology has become one of the troubles of many car companies, after all, it will cost more money and time. In order to achieve the electrified layout earlier, Aston Martin, one of the world's supercar brands, said it would sign a cooperation agreement with Mercedes-Benz.

A few days ago, Aston Martin signed a new technology agreement with Mercedes-Benz. In order to get more technology from the Mercedes-Benz plant, the former will sell nearly 20% of its shares to Daimler Group, thus acquiring more technical resources of Mercedes-Benz, including electric vehicles and hybrid technology. It is understood that Mercedes-Benz still holds 2.6% of its shares in Aston Martin. Because the two have been working together since 2013, Aston Martin can use electronics such as the Mercedes-Benz AMG V8 engine and its infotainment system, the former in the same equity exchange.

Under the agreement, Mercedes-Benz will increase its stake in Aston Martin from 2.6% to 20% by 20123, making Mercedes-Benz one of Aston Martin's largest shareholders.

In fact, the reason why Aston Martin often cooperates in the way of equity exchange is that Aston Martin has not yet got rid of its financial dilemma.

Although Aston Martin is a luxury car brand, it has been facing difficulties in terms of capital and performance, which is even worse by the impact of this year's epidemic. When it went public, Aston Martin was valued at about £5 billion and is now valued at about £1.5 billion. For the whole of 2019, Aston Martin sold 5819 cars worldwide, down 7 per cent from 2018.

According to Aston Martin's financial results for the first half of 2020, the company lost 230 million pounds, down about 67 per cent from June last year. From cash flow to minus 370 million pounds. Aston Martin's sales fell 41% as a result of the pandemic and blockade, due to the widespread closure of its dealers and factories.

Previously, due to a shortage of performance funds, it was reported that Chinese Geely Motor had invested in the acquisition of Aston Martin's stake, but in the end, Aston Martin issued a statement saying that Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll had bought 16.7% of Aston Martin for 182 million pounds.

According to Mercedes, the partnership will not inject any cash into Aston Martin, only measures to provide it with electric vehicle technology to promote economies of scale beyond Mercedes-owned products.

Lawrence Stroll, executive chairman of Aston Martin, said that by adopting plug-in hybrid technology and pure electric vehicle technology developed by Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin will reduce the risk of developing electrification, allowing it to focus more on investments in other areas, including the brand's product lineup. According to its plan, Aston Martin plans to sell 10000 cars a year in 2024-25.

Although Mercedes-Benz is still expanding its investment in electrification, it already has several new car platforms and an electric drive system that supports the EQ series of electric vehicles, of which hybrid technology has accounted for the vast majority of Mercedes-Benz's research and development costs and is used in a number of its new products.

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