Motorsport-Magazin.com – Aston Martin has filed for criminal prosecution in Switzerland as well as a parallel civil suit against the board members of Nebula Project AG. These are Florian Kamelger and Andreas Baenziger, who competed in the DTM in 2019 with the private R-Motorsport team in cooperation with HWA AG with Aston Martin cars and who retired after just one year.
According to Aston Martin, “potentially criminal behavior” should be investigated in the court case after the Nebula Project AG failed to pay Aston Martin financial contributions from customers for the Valkyrie sports car project.
Aston Martin forecast a loss of up to US $ 21 million as a result of withheld payments by Nebula Project AG for fiscal year 2021 and announced that it would end its cooperation with the company.
At the same time, Aston Martin ended its dealer agreements with AF Cars AG, a company that Aston Martin St. Gallen operates in Switzerland and is run by the same board members (Kamelger and Baenziger) as Nebula Project AG. According to Aston Martin, vehicles were sold in violation of agreements made. Kamelger and Baenziger had withdrawn from the day-to-day operations of the luxury car dealership in Niederwil in May 2020.
Nebula Project AG surprised and disappointed
In a statement, Nebula Project AG was “surprised and disappointed with the aggressive tone” on the part of Aston Martin. They consider the “alleged unilateral termination of the contractual relationship with Nebula Project AG by Aston Martin” to be unlawful and unjustified.
And further: “Nebula Project AG has entered into the agreement with Aston Martin regarding the Valkyrie and other mid-engine programs in good faith and has always fulfilled its obligations as co-initiator of the said project in accordance with the existing agreements with Aston Martin.” Nebula Project AG reserves the right to take legal action.
Nebula should financially support Valkyrie project
The Aston Martin Valkyrie is a super sports car from the pen of Formula 1 designer Adrian Newey, on the basis of which a hypercar involvement in the 24 Hours of Le Mans was sought. Aston Martin had withdrawn prematurely after the announced engagement and, according to their own statement, instead focused on the Formula 1 program.
In 2016, Aston Martin’s board of directors, led by former chairman Andy Palmer, signed an agreement with Nebula Project AG to provide financial support for the development of the Valkyrie and other mid-engined cars. In these difficult economic times for Aston Martin, Nebula should receive license payments in return. According to Aston Martin, in the course of the termination of the cooperation, no more possible license payments will be paid out.
Aston Martin now wants to take the customer business with the Valkyrie into their own hands instead of handing it over to third parties. The first vehicles are to be delivered to customers in the second half of the year.
HWA reports a two-digit million loss
R-Motorsport under Kamelger and Baenziger had largely stopped its motorsport activities after the DTM ended with reference to the corona pandemic. The joint venture between AF Racing (R-Motorsport) and HWA AG under the name Vynamic was not without consequences.
According to its own statements, HWA AG incurred costs in February 2020 “which, according to the current status, will not be compensated by the partners in the DTM. The loss of the DTM project incurred in HWA AG is therefore borne by HWA AG alone, which is a low overall tens of millions. ” At that time, the HWA board of directors pursued the assertion of claims for damages.
This rejected AF Racing / R-Motorsport and shared the opposite Motorsport-Magazin.com Among other things: “AF Racing AG has no obligations to HWA from its DTM involvement. And Vynamic GmbH, which was involved in the DTM, is a joint venture between HWA and AF Racing AG, in which both shareholders are equally involved If the Vynamic joint venture results in a loss, it affects both partners equally. ”
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