Aston Martin: Recall to cost 15.1 million yuan
Aston Martin estimates that its expanded recall of accelerator pedals in 17,590 sports cars will result in a material added cost of $2.5 million (15.1 million yuan), which matches a calculation the automaker made late last year.
The first recall for the problem was announced last May and was expanded in October and expanded again last week to include most of the sports cars built by Aston Martin since late 2007.
The British brand announced the expanded recall Wednesday, Feb. 5, after discovering that a Chinese subsupplier was using counterfeit plastic material in the pedals, which may break, increasing the risk of a crash.
Aston Martin said in a statement last week that it determined the cost of the recall in November. The estimate does not include the potential cost of moving production of the pedal.
Aston Martin spokeswoman Sarah Calam said the automaker plans to shift production of the pedal arms from China to the United Kingdom "as soon as possible" in 2014.
The cost of the recall is of great interest because Aston Martin has struggled to fund the development of a range of new vehicles while rivals such as Volkswagen AG's Bentley and BMW AG's Rolls-Royce can draw on the resources of their corporate parents.
Aston Martin's owners include Italian private equity fund Investindustrial, Kuwait-based Adeem Investment and Prime Wagon.
Daimler AG also has a stake of less than 5 percent in the automaker.
Of the Aston Martin cars affected in the recall, 7,271 are in Europe and 5,001 in the United States, Calam said. The company sells cars in 41 countries.
The cars are being recalled from the 2008 through 2014 model years, according to documents from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Aston Martin found that Shenzhen Kexiang Mould Tool Co., a Chinese subcontractor that molds the affected accelerator pedal arms, was using counterfeit plastic material supplied by Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Co. of Dongguan, according to documents filed with the NHTSA.
Calam said there had been no reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue, adding that 22 failed parts had been reported.
The British brand announced the expanded recall Wednesday, Feb. 5, after discovering that a Chinese subsupplier was using counterfeit plastic material in the pedals, which may break, increasing the risk of a crash.
Aston Martin said in a statement last week that it determined the cost of the recall in November. The estimate does not include the potential cost of moving production of the pedal.
Aston Martin spokeswoman Sarah Calam said the automaker plans to shift production of the pedal arms from China to the United Kingdom "as soon as possible" in 2014.
The cost of the recall is of great interest because Aston Martin has struggled to fund the development of a range of new vehicles while rivals such as Volkswagen AG's Bentley and BMW AG's Rolls-Royce can draw on the resources of their corporate parents.
Aston Martin's owners include Italian private equity fund Investindustrial, Kuwait-based Adeem Investment and Prime Wagon.
Daimler AG also has a stake of less than 5 percent in the automaker.
Of the Aston Martin cars affected in the recall, 7,271 are in Europe and 5,001 in the United States, Calam said. The company sells cars in 41 countries.
The cars are being recalled from the 2008 through 2014 model years, according to documents from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Aston Martin found that Shenzhen Kexiang Mould Tool Co., a Chinese subcontractor that molds the affected accelerator pedal arms, was using counterfeit plastic material supplied by Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Co. of Dongguan, according to documents filed with the NHTSA.
Calam said there had been no reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue, adding that 22 failed parts had been reported.
