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Aston Martin to hold internal inquiry after 'sockpuppet PR firm' row

<span>Photograph: VCG/Getty Images</span>
Photograph: VCG/Getty Images

The boss of Aston Martin has called for an internal investigation after the British carmaker was accused of using a “sockpuppet PR firm” to legitimise a report which used data criticised as misleading to discredit electric vehicles.

The new chief executive, Tobias Moers, said Aston Martin’s involvement in the widely discredited report began before he joined the company last August, and that he was not aware of its contents before it was published.

Moers said he was “deeply concerned” and would be conducting a review into the circumstances surrounding the commissioning and publication of the report.

The study appeared to be an independent analysis of the carbon emissions associated with electric vehicles and was credited as being commissioned by Aston Martin, Bosch, Honda and McLaren, and produced by Clarendon Communications.

The Guardian reported this week that Clarendon was set up under the name of Rebecca Stephens, the wife of Aston Martin’s government affairs director, James Stephens, in February this year.

Rebecca Stephens, an NHS nurse, confirmed that the report was written by the same companies which claimed to have commissioned the study.

The report’s claim that electric vehicles are only greener than petrol after 50,000 miles – which has been widely debunked – was reported by newspapers including the Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail following the government’s decision to ban the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles from 2030.

The findings relied on data produced by Polestar, an electric vehicle maker owned by Volvo, which was published in September this year, a month after the new Aston Martin boss stepped into the role.

Polestar has distanced itself from the Clarendon report by warning that it had left out data which would have reduced the number of miles required for its embedded emissions – those associated with manufacturing the cars – to “break even” with the emissions saved by a third. Polestar has also been criticised by experts for the methodology it used to produce the data.

Labour MP Matt Western, who wrote the foreword for the report, has also expressed concern over the findings and the ties between Aston Martin and Clarendon, which he was not aware of at the time.

Moers said Aston Martin, an electric vehicle laggard, is “fully committed to the development of both hybrid and battery electric vehicles” after striking a deal earlier this year to hand 20% of the company to Mercedes-Benz in exchange for access to its electric vehicle technology. Mercedes-Benz did not respond to a request for comment.

Aston Martin has struggled to struggled to adapt to a low carbon future, and its share price has fallen by almost two-thirds in the past year to value the company at just over £1.3bn. The company sacked its former boss, Andy Palmer, in May this year.

Aston Martin’s internal investigation may help to appease shareholders, many of whom have recently signed a charter calling for climate lobbying to face tough governance standards. It was signed by Aston Martin shareholders including Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM), Royal London, Aberdeen Standard Investments and HSBC.

The shareholders were not immediately available to comment.