Aston Martin has built a motorcycle. Not a concept, not a design study tucked away in a Gaydon styling studio, but a street-legal, limited-run machine that will be sold to 300 paying customers. The AMB 002 Roadster, developed in partnership with the French specialist Brough Superior, is a 190kg titanium-framed, carbon-tanked, billet-forked projectile that makes roughly 115 horsepower—or, as Car and Driver helpfully framed it, nearly as much as a Mazda MX-5 Miata. It is, by every account, an extraordinary piece of engineering. It is also a symptom of a disease that has been quietly metastasising inside one of Britain's most storied marques for years.

Let's be clear about what Aston Martin is. It is a low-volume sports car manufacturer that has spent the better part of two decades struggling to fund the development of the cars it actually needs to sell: the Vantage, the DB12, the Vanquish, the DBX. The company has cycled through more CEOs than it has launched clean-sheet platforms in the same period. Its Formula 1 team, meanwhile, is finally delivering on track—Fernando Alonso's podiums and the risky mid-season upgrade strategy that Pedro de la Rosa recently called "one of the best moments we've had" are genuine achievements. But F1 success costs money, and Aston Martin has never been a company with money to spare.

The Licensing Department Never Sleeps

Into that gap steps the licensing department. The motorcycle is the purest expression of it, but it is not the first. There have been Aston Martin bicycles, Aston Martin speedboats, Aston Martin helicopters, Aston Martin submarines, Aston Martin apartments in Miami, Aston Martin-branded whisky, and an Aston Martin baby stroller that costs more than most used cars. Each of these ventures trades on the accumulated equity of the DB5, the V8 Vantage, the Le Mans-winning DBR1—a heritage built by engineers and racers, not by brand strategists. Every time the winged badge appears on something that is not an Aston Martin in any meaningful sense, that equity is spent rather than invested.

A Brough Superior in a Savile Row Suit

The motorcycle is a particularly cynical example because it is not even pretending to be an Aston Martin underneath. It is a Brough Superior—a small, boutique French manufacturer with its own history—wearing a grille-shaped headlight and a set of Aston Martin design cues. The engineering is Brough's. The titanium frame is Brough's. The 997cc turbocharged V-twin is Brough's. Aston Martin contributed a badge and, presumably, a licensing fee. For that, 300 buyers will pay a premium that has not been disclosed but can safely be assumed to be north of £100,000. Brough Superior's own equivalent, the AMB 001, started at around €108,000. The 002 will not be cheaper.

None of this is to say the AMB 002 is a bad motorcycle. It is almost certainly a magnificent one—light, fast, beautifully made, and rare enough to appreciate. The problem is not the product. The problem is what the product reveals about the priorities of the company selling it. While Aston Martin's engineers are fighting to keep the Valkyrie AMR-LMH competitive in the hypercar class and its F1 team is losing key personnel to Red Bull—Gianpiero Lambiase's replacement was poached from Aston's own ranks—the marketing department is out there slapping the badge on a two-wheeled trinket for collectors who already own three Astons and want a fourth thing to park next to them.

The Company It Could Be

There is a version of Aston Martin that is a great car company. You can see it in the Vanquish, which Motor1 recently described as "everything a V12 should be," and in the DBX S, which Kelley Blue Book drove and liked. That company makes cars that people want to drive, not just collect. That company does not need to sell motorcycles, bicycles, or submarines to stay solvent. That company, unfortunately, is not the one we have.

The one we have will put its badge on anything. And as long as collectors keep buying, it will keep doing it.

先搞清楚Aston Martin到底係咩。佢係一間低產量跑車製造商，過去廿年，大部分時間都喺度撲水開發佢真正需要賣嘅車：Vantage、DB12、Vanquish、DBX。同一時期，佢換CEO嘅次數，仲多過佢推出全新平台嘅數目。另一邊廂，佢哋隊F1車隊終於喺賽道上交到功課——Fernando Alonso嘅頒獎台，加上Pedro de la Rosa口中「我哋有過最好嘅時刻之一」嘅季中升級策略，呢啲都係實打實嘅成績。但F1嘅成功係要燒錢嘅，而Aston Martin從來都唔係一間有錢剩嘅公司。

授權部門，永不眠

喺呢個缺口度，授權部門就出場喇。電單車係最赤裸嘅示範，但絕對唔係第一個。之前已經有Aston Martin單車、Aston Martin快艇、Aston Martin直升機、Aston Martin潛艇、邁阿密Aston Martin豪宅、Aston Martin威士忌，仲有一部貴過唔少二手車嘅Aston Martin BB車。每一個項目，都係喺度透支DB5、V8 Vantage、勒芒冠軍DBR1累積落嚟嘅品牌本錢——呢啲 heritage，係工程師同賽車手一手一腳砌出嚟，唔係品牌策略師寫PPT寫出嚟。每次個翼徽出現喺一啲根本唔係Aston Martin嘅嘢上面，呢筆本錢就係俾人使咗，而唔係投資落去。

着住Savile Row西裝嘅Brough Superior

電單車呢單嘢特別諷刺，因為佢連扮都費事扮。骨子裡根本就係一部Brough Superior——一間法國小型精品車廠，有自己嘅歷史——只不過戴咗個鬼面罩造型頭燈，加幾筆Aston Martin設計語言。工程係Brough嘅，鈦合金車架係Brough嘅，997cc渦輪增壓V雙引擎都係Brough嘅。Aston Martin貢獻咗一個徽章，同埋——估佢唔到——一筆授權費。就係咁，300個買家要俾一個未公佈、但肯定超過十萬鎊嘅溢價。Brough Superior自己嘅同級作品AMB 001，起標價已經要€108,000，002只會更貴。

咁講唔係話AMB 002係一部差嘅電單車。佢幾乎肯定係一部好正嘅電單車——輕、快、造工靚、稀有到有升值潛力。問題唔喺件產品度，問題係件產品揭示咗賣家嘅優先次序。當Aston Martin嘅工程師仲喺度死撐Valkyrie AMR-LMH喺hypercar組別嘅競爭力，當F1車隊俾Red Bull撬走關鍵人材——Gianpiero Lambiase嘅替補人選，正正係喺Aston自己嘅團隊度挖走——市場部就喺外面將個徽章黐喺一件兩輪小擺設上面，賣俾啲已經有三部Aston、想買第四件嘢擺喺隔籬嘅收藏家。

佢本可以成為嘅那間車廠

有一個版本嘅Aston Martin，係一間偉大嘅車廠。你喺Vanquish身上睇得到——Motor1最近形容佢「擁有V12應有嘅一切」；喺DBX S身上亦睇得到——Kelley Blue Book試完之後都收貨。嗰間車廠，造嘅車係令人想揸，而唔係淨係想收藏。嗰間車廠，唔需要賣電單車、單車或者潛艇嚟維持生計。可惜，嗰間車廠，唔係我哋而家見到嗰間。

我哋見到嗰間，會將個徽章黐喺任何嘢上面。只要收藏家繼續課金，佢就會繼續黐落去。