![\"Renee](\"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/behind-the-scenes-at-aston-martin-meet-the-project-manager-making-dreams-a-reality.jpg\" "\\"Renee")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n Project management is a passion for Aston Martin\u2019s Renee Knott<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Top execs get the credit for successful launches, but it wouldn’t be possible without an army of backstage heroes<\/p>\n
\nThe top designers, engineers and company bosses will usually get the headlines and plaudits for the successful launch of a new car. But behind them is a team of hundreds, maybe thousands, working towards that success.<\/p>\n
New models must be planned and costed then delivered on time and on budget. That involves planning and project management, and Renee Knott, whose role at Aston Martin<\/a> sees her head up both of those areas, is one of those backstage heroes.<\/p>\n
She left a staff role at JLR for a contract job at Aston in 2003 as a programme timing analyst, such was the pull of the marque and the extent to which \u201cshe loved the cars\u201d. She became a member of staff in 2006 and has been there since.<\/p>\n
In her early days at JLR, Knott soon realised she wanted to \u201cspend her whole life\u201d working in project management. \u201cI just love it,\u201d she says. \u201cEven outside work, my life is a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knott was first deployed on the VH platform that would underpin a whole generation of Astons, starting with the DB9<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Project management is about creating relationships and networks and ultimately \u201cbuilding trust\u201d, says Knott. She speaks warmly of the family feel at Aston, of how everyone buys into a project where going the extra mile is not just a clich\u00e9 but a reality: \u201cAston is ultimately a small, independent luxury brand.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are partnerships with the likes of Mercedes-AMG<\/a>, but Knott says these are \u201cvery, very different\u201d from how things were under Ford<\/a> ownership in the Premier Automotive Group. \u201cYou would always have that safety blanket,\u201d she adds. In automotive terms, Aston doesn\u2019t now have \u201ca big brother\u201d to share technology and information.<\/p>\n
Knott speaks highly of Aston\u2019s executive chairman Lawrence Stroll, who heads the company and helps to create an environment in which it can thrive on its own. She says he was immediately \u201cvery visible and very engaged\u201d around Aston when he arrived five years ago. \u201cThere has been quite the transition since he joined,\u201d she adds. \u201cHe\u2019s really passionate about Aston Martin and wants to make it a success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knott describes seeing validation prototypes run off the production line as \u201cquite emotional\u201d. She adds: \u201cYou see something you\u2019ve been looking at in [digital renderings] suddenly come to life.\u201d<\/p>\n