Tire Review spoke with Julian Jenkins at the recent Aston Martin On Ice event in Colorado about the car company’s partnerships with Pirelli, driving on ice, James Bond and the brand’s 100-year heritage.

Tire Review: You’ve partnered with Pirelli to give Aston Martin customers and dealers a chance to drive your cars on extreme ice conditions. This was the first time you’ve done an event like that?

Jenkins: The European team has been running a successful program like this for a number of years. This is a from-scratch build – the site is 20 acres and has a mile long track, plus an additional three exercises that build up to the track within that 20 acres. It’s taken us about three months to groom this track which consisted of taking the snow off, getting the ground to frost and ultimately getting the layers of snow compacted down to get the surface that we have today.

As far as our partnership with Pirelli, they have been a long-term supplier for Aston Martin. In fact, over 60% of the tires we put on our cars are Pirelli tires. As that relationship has developed, so too has the relationship between the two brands in terms of the association and the opportunity to do things for mutual benefit. For us, this event was a perfect example. We showcased the capabilities of the winter tire and the car. It’s a unique program and the first time we’ve created this.

TR: What’s the one take-away for dealers?

Jenkins: For our dealers, it’s about having an experience that they can communicate to our customers. It’s about reinforcing that this is not a car that they need to put away for six months of the year. In the northeast climates, this is a car that they can drive and extend driving enjoyment in the year. For us, not just in terms of a safe environment for dealers to experience the parameters, the safety, handling, the balance of the cars – but connecting it to the tires and carrying that message to the customers.

TR: Aston Martin does a great job of putting together experiences for people.

Jenkins: Yes, one of the things in 2013 that we did, which was very successful, was a number of driving tours with a small group of customers who wanted to learn more about Aston Martin or get closer to the brand. This is just a natural extension of that. These customers wanted to combine lifestyle and driving – here was the perfect opportunity. It was a three day, two night trip where you would stay in the most fabulous hotels and enjoy fantastic scenery.

Then we had another event, Pebble Beach On Tour, where we had a five-day tour to Pebble Beach. In total, there were about 14-15 cars and customers brought their own cars … some DB4s, DB5s. They also had the opportunity to rent our cars and switch between cars so they had the full experience.

TR: Right, and you brought in the DB5 car from James Bond: Goldfinger. How has James Bond played into the Aston Martin brand?

Jenkins: We’ve been extremely fortunate in the role that James Bond has played for us. It’s something we’re proud of and our customers are as excited as they were when they saw the DB5 in the 1960s. It’s an iconic connection to the brand and we enjoy that.

At the same time, we’re 100 years as a brand. Last year, we celebrated our centenary. We had a fabulous opportunity to do some major events that really told the story of where Aston Martin came from. The Hill Climb, the racing, the way through into the progression of technology and design and looking forward. The car that capsulated that story was the CC 100. It was a fabulous looking car, beautiful design, with a V12 engine. It was the spiritual successor to the DBR1 racecar. You can certainly see the lines between the two. But it was a moment when Aston Martin looked backwards but at the same time we certainly recognize and look forward to the future.

In terms of the evolution of the brand, with that the position of the brand lies on the past – the history – be it racing or James Bond. But again, we’re writing our history as we move forward whether that’s in racing, design or experience. It’s about creating the advocacy and the loyalty amongst our customer base and instilling that passion.

TR: What’s unique about your brand is that there is a lifestyle around it. You’ve even partnered with other companies to reinforce that lifestyle.

Jenkins: Yes, Jaeger-LeCoultre is the watch representative of Aston Martin, Bang & Olufsen is our audio partner and, of course, Pirelli. We’ve got a number of other brands that we have associated with and offer a mutual benefit. For us, that’s part of the benefit. It’s a story we can tell and increases our exposure by telling our story to a new audience.

TR: What’s the future hold for Aston Martin?

Jenkins: We’ve got a long way to go as a brand. On the consideration list, we’ve grown exponentially over the years and we’ve built about 75,000 cars over 100 years but we’ve probably built 50,000 of those in the last 15. The rate of growth is quite significant. We have 146 dealers across the world in 42 countries, so again, if you think about the opportunity to grow in terms of our recognition and brand awareness, there is an opportunity to explore and expand in certain markets. For example, we’re opening in Mexico next Thursday. It is a tremendous step for us, an important market. We’re in Brazil and Chile, Peru. We have five dealers in Canada – there are the 41 dealers, but again, there’s many other markets in South America and the U.S. we’re looking at to fill those gaps.

TR: And what of your recent announcement to partner with Pirelli for racing?

Jenkins: We have another unique opportunity to do just that and that is racing. Sounds simplistic and as many already know, Aston Martin is a racing brand. But, for this market, because we don’t have a huge racing presence, that hasn’t always been the story to be told. So for us, that’s an exciting development. We’ve got TRG, the racing group based out of Sonoma, they are running a one-week series. So in the U.S., we’ll have an 8-stage race series. Followed by a GT4 series and customers can buy into that and rent cars. We will see the excitement that goes into that. We have sponsorship and a TV contract so we’ll begin to see the exposure.

For me, I’m excited to tell that story around racing. It harks back to Le Mans in the early days with the iconic tracks in the U.K. to racing at Sebring and Watkins Glen. There’s a real opportunity to join some dots for people. For owners today, it’ll give them that reassurance and added enjoyment to what they poured into and for those new to the brand, it’s a new addition to what they didn’t know.