Aston Martin hitting new markets to beat downturn

LONDON (Reuters) - British luxury car maker Aston Martin is suffering from the economic downturn but is hoping to offset weakness in the UK and United States with bigger sales in emerging markets -- with the Middle East a key target.

The company, which is part owned by two Kuwaiti funds following its sale by Ford (F.N) last year, said the 7,000 vehicles expected to be produced this year could be sold, but it would have to "work harder" than previous years.

"We've seen in various markets a hesitation to invest or to buy cars, but in other markets we see growth ... we can cope," Chief Executive Ulrich Bez told Reuters.

"For the past eight years we have been developing in Great Britain, Europe, America ... now we must develop in Asia/Pacific and the Middle East," he said at the UK launch of an Aston Martin partnership with Denmark's Bang & Olufsen BOB.CO, which has put its luxury stereos into new models.

"The Middle East has a faster growing GDP than anywhere else, and the population is growing faster than anywhere else -- we need to add this," he said. The firm currently sells around 300 cars a year in the region.

Engineering director Ian Minards added that while sales of Aston Martins in the UK and United States are going down, Germany, for example, is still on the rise.

"We are subject to the vagaries of the economy -- we are suffering like everyone else .. we have to work a little harder," he said, adding that the group's challenge was controlling supply so the value of a second hand Aston Martin remained high.

Aston Martin has launched some of the most famous sports cars in the world, and is a favorite brand of fictional British secret agent James Bond. It was bought last year by a consortium including Formula 1 specialist David Richards and two Kuwaiti funds for 479 million pounds.

GROWTH PLAN

Ulrich Bez told Reuters he had a growth plan for the company to take it through to 2015. This would see it open at least one dealership in 70 new countries -- taking its total market to over a 100.

He said a dealership is expected to sell 50 cars a year to make a profit, meaning the expansion could boost production up to 10,000 a year. He would not comment on the possibility of an expansion to the group's manufacturing capability in the UK -- although the group's next new model -- the four-door Rapide -- is being made by Austria's Magna Steyr.

A key element to the strategy will be the revival of the Lagonda brand for the first time in two decades, announced earlier this week. It will be used to build a more robust car which can be used in worse road and weather conditions than the traditional sports model.

Another move is the design and production of a limited edition model called the Aston Martin 177 -- which at more than 1 million pounds makes it one of the world's most expensive cars.

(Reporting by John Bowker; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)