Aston Martin and Honda have held no talks about projects outside F1, but are open to discussions to production, hypercar or supercar, if results come by.
Even though the partnership has begun, they are still to hit the track to officially start out as one. While other teams have had shakedowns, Aston Martin is yet to. And so the coming week will be a crucial start of a new journey in Barcelona for the F1 team and also Honda.
The Japanese manufacturer launched its power unit project in Tokyo last week and was well attended by Aston Martin executives along with Stefano Domenicali. While they have the F1 partnership in check, neither of them has held any discussions regarding anything beyond that.
Both Aston Martin and Honda run a production car company and also have a racing programme outside F1. For now, the idea of succeeding in the pinnacle of sport as one precedes their mind, before venturing into other projects. The heads echoed similar sentiments when asked by media.
“These are two great companies getting together in Aston Martin and Honda,” said Lawrence Stroll. “Our current plan is obviously our very ambitious Formula One works, team project. It’s safe to say that that is the beginning of our relationship. We actually at this point have not discussed a production car or hypercar or a supercar together.
“There is absolutely no reason why we can’t do so going forward. I tell you, Aston Martin would be very open to the idea based on this partnership. I’m sure Mibe-san might be excited about the idea. So let’s just say all doors are open to explore the greatest way to have the best partnership we can,” summed up Stroll.
At the same time, Honda’s President Toshihiro Mibe added: “As Lawrence just said, first, you will start with the F1 project and create results,” he said. “Because this is our top priority. Talking on the subject of any mass production projects, there are no talks.
“But the racing activities between the two – the more successful this is going to be, there will be value to applying what we learned from that to production cars. So I don’t know at what time, but if there is a possibility to expanding our business, as mentioned, that we can continue discussing, and I will be doing so with Lawrence. It is entirely possible.”
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