China bites back over Aston Martin recall

China's media has turned on Aston Martin after the luxury carmaker blamed a Chinese supplier for a 17,000-vehicle recall.

The state-owned Xinhua news agency was just one of several media outlets to accuse Aston Martin of shifting the onus for the recall onto Shenzhen Kexiang Mould Tool Co, which the carmaker said had manufactured a component used in accelerator pedal arms using fake plastic sourced from Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Co of Dongguan.

In response, Xinhua has accused Aston Martin of mismanaging its own supply chain and using 'Made in China' as a scapegoat to cover up its own failings, while a Reuters report indicated the plastic supplier's registered address actually housed a small secretarial and legal firm.

The carmaker, which is owned by private investors, has already indicated it will re-shore the manufacture of the pedal arms to a UK-based moulder.

The public spat threatens to derail Aston Martin's growth trajectory in China, which has become an increasingly important market for the company in recent years on the back of buoyant economic growth. Last week, the country's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine reportedly warned Chinese dealers of Aston Martin sports cars to stop importing and selling its products.

Aston Martin posted a net loss of around £25m in the year ended December 2012, during which it made 3,800 cars, a little over half its output in 2007 before the financial crisis. It recently signed a deal with Daimler, giving the German company a 5 per cent stake in return for supplying engines and electronic components.