Aston Martin receives £6 million in funding for revolutionising sustainable aluminium castings

Aston Martin, a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers, is set to advance its sustainability efforts with £6 million in funding from the UK Government for an innovative project focused on developing lightweight, sustainable aluminium castings for future vehicles.

The luxury sports car brand has obtained funding for its Project PIVOT through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) following a competitive process. Project PIVOT is a collaborative five-partner research and development project led by an England-based aluminium supplier, Sarginsons, and supported by Aston Martin.

This project seeks to achieve a new milestone in the global casting industry by modernising designs, reducing weight, and significantly curbing carbon emissions while producing cast aluminium. The goal is to adopt 100 per cent recycled aluminium content for future cars as part of Aston Martin's sustainability strategy' Racing Green'.

The funding from the UK Government will immensely support Project PIVOT, which aims to improve the environmental impacts of Aston Martin's supply chain through various initiatives. Aston Martin has long been committed to its sustainability goals, which it earlier demonstrated by joining Drive Sustainability, a partnership of 16 automotive manufacturers working together to improve the social, ethical, and environmental performance of automotive supply chains, facilitated by CSR Europe.  

Roberto Fedeli, Group Chief Technology Officer of Aston Martin, said: “The award of funding from the APC is a major boost to Project PIVOT, which seeks to leverage advanced metal solidification and digital-twin simulations to manufacture low-carbon alloys which will ultimately uplift the level of recycled content we feature in Aston Martin models. We look forward to progressing this project collaboratively with Sarginsons and our other research partners. We thank the APC for their incredible support, following on from their backing of our electrification programme last year.”

Ian Constance, APC Chief Executive, said: “These collaborative projects will further advance the UK’s excellence in automotive production. From sustainable materials to advanced electronics, and smart software systems, it’s important we continue to demonstrate that the automotive sector is vital to the country’s net-zero goals and that it is a highly investable opportunity.”