ASTON Martin Lagonda's Welsh plant will play an increasingly important part in the company's "reset plan" to boost sales around the world.

The luxury car maker has seen a steep collapse in its sports cars sales and introduced new management as it prepares to roll out production of its DBX SUV at St Athan in coming weeks.

It has announced 500 job cuts across the business, mostly at Gaydon in Warwickshire where it builds the sports models, as it seeks to save £10 million this year, £18 million in capital expenditure and manufacturing, £12 million in cash restructuring and further £10 million in operating costs.

The company continues to take decisive action in other areas to reduce cost and remove non-critical expenditure from the business at every level, including areas such as contractor numbers, site footprint, marketing and travel.

In a statement it said: "Aston Martin Lagonda updates on actions to improve the cost efficiency of the business, in alignment with its strategic plan to deliver profitable growth, operating as a true luxury car brand.

"As communicated previously, the plan requires a fundamental reset which includes a planned reduction in front-engined sports car production to rebalance supply to demand.

"The company's first SUV, DBX, remains on track for deliveries in the summer and has a strong order book. The measures announced today will right-size the organisational structure and bring the cost base into line with reduced sports car production levels, consistent with restoring profitability.

"Aston Martin will shortly launch a consultation process on proposals to reduce employee numbers by up to 500, reflecting lower than originally planned production volumes and improved productivity across the business. The employee and trade union consultation process will be launched in the coming days. "

The cuts come a week after Aston Martin confirmed Tobias Moers, the current chief executive of Mercedes-AMG, would become its new boss on August 1, replacing Andy Palmer, who conceived the 'Second Century Plan' for new models, new technology and who brought production to St Athan in South Wales.

Aston Martin has seen its share price plummet since floating in October 2018. Last month it posted a deep first-quarter loss after sales dropped by almost a third due to the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak.