Aston Martin set to cut jobs in bid to stay 'right size'

Aston Martin has announced a restructuring that will result in swingeing job cuts at the luxury sports car maker.

The company – which has been loss-making for the past three years – has begun a “rebalancing” process that will result in up to 295 redundancies, or 10pc of the workforce.

A spokesman for the business, which found fame as James Bond’s car maker of choice, confirmed that job losses among the 2,100 staff were likely last week.

“This about driving efficiencies and making sure we are a company of the right size,” the spokesman said.

Workers building cars at the Gaydon, Warwickshire-based business will not be affected by the restructuring, the spokesman said, which will focus on support roles such as marketing and administration.

The review is expected to conclude at the end of this year or early 2016, and comes almost exactly a year after Andy Palmer took the wheel, joining as chief executive after more than two decades at Nissan.

In its last set of accounts, Aston Martin posted a £35.9m loss on a £454.7m turnover. Mr Palmer’s appointment was welcomed when it was announced last year, with industry sources describing him as a “great choice” to steer the company back to profit and compete against rivals such as Ferrari.

In 2013 Aston sold 4,200 vehicles, 400 up on the previous year – in the same period Ferrari sold 7,300 cars.

Like other manufacturers, Aston Martin is planning to move into the luxury sports utility vehicles (SUV) crossover market, with plans for a DBX vehicle, which is thought could be built at a new site in Wales.