Vikram Bhatia rejoins Aston Martin as interim CFO

Troubled luxury car maker Aston Martin Lagonda said Vikram Bhatia had returned to the firm as interim chief financial officer.

Bhatia would take up his post on April 20, the company said, but not join the board. He performed the same role at Aston Martin for eight months in 2015.

The iconic marque has been forced to stop production at its UK factories until April 20 as the company warned the Covid-19 crisis was a threat to its financial performance.

Aston Martin said it was also controlling and shifting operating costs, such as marketing, and capital spending. It said after Covid-19 affected demand in China and the Asia Pacific region the virus was now "impacting demand in other markets increasing uncertainties and risks to the financial performance of the company in 2020".

About a third of its dealers were closed with a third operating at limited capacity and that there could be further reductions. All but one of its 18 dealers in China are open.

Aston Martin said it was still planning to start delivering its new DBX SUV model in summer 2020 and that its order book was growing. The company is continuing to develop its Valkyrie model with first deliveries planned for the second half of 2020.

The company was struggling with rising costs, supply chain issues and a sales slump even before the coronavirus outbreak threatened to trigger a global recession as China's trade war with the US curtailed spending in one of its biggest markets.

Aston Martin Lagonda approved a £536m fundraising round at the end of March, underpinned by an injection of £260m of new capital from Yew Tree Consortium - a group of investors led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll.

As part of the investment deal, Stroll took a 16.7% stake in Aston Martin for £182m and was been named executive chairman. The investment would allow Aston to put the DBX into production soon after its new St Athan facility was able to resume production