Nobody could have guessed that the share price of Aston Martin (LSE:AML) would make such a remarkable comeback. After years of lacklustre performance, the stock has finally picked up a bullish path.  Aston Martin’s share price has been quite the rollercoaster since going public in 2018 even with its recent recovery.

After being priced at over 12,000p per share, the stock rapidly started plummeting. And by 2020, the Aston Martin share price had reached as low as 670p. That’s nearly a 95% decline in less than two years! But despite the pandemic disrupting the automotive industry, it looks like the Aston Martin share price has begun a recovery. Because the stock is now trading at around 2,000p today. That’s still a long way off from its initial IPO price, but it’s good progress. At least, I think so.

What actually happened?

As I just mentioned, Aston Martin joined the public markets in 2018, with strong support from its then private equity owners. But with an enormous pile of debt and cracks beginning to show in the underlying operations, investors were less than keen to own this struggling business. The result was a swift and rapid decline in the Aston Martin share price.

This downward trend continued steadily until Covid-19 started rearing its head around the corner. The pandemic created havoc for the luxury carmaker, and sales dropped off a cliff. It seemed the business was about to go under until it received a rescue package from Canadian billionaire Lawernce Stroll. What followed was a major structural overhaul that appears to have started the recovery story for the Aston Martin share price.

Aston Martin share price recovery

After receiving the rescue package, a large shakeup in management occurred. Unable to handle the company in crisis, ex-Chief Executive Officer, Andy Palmer, stepped down from his board seat along with three other directors. Tobias Moers took his place, and it seems investors were happy because the Aston Martin share price jumped the very next day.

Since taking over, the luxury car manufacturer launched two new models, including the highly popular DBX SUV. Despite its lofty price tag, the wholesale demand has surged, pushing total units sold in the last six months to 2,901 cars (half of which were DBX models). As a result, revenue jumped to £499m – the first sales boost seen since 2018.

Likewise, under its customer-focused product renewal strategy, the luxury car manufacturer has three more models to be launched later this year. With Valkyrie production on track and the Valhalla hybrid supercar revealed, the Aston Martin share price recovery path has accelerated. At least, that’s what I think. 

The recovery journey of Aston Martin shares

The share of Aston Martin changed course by the end of October last year. From a price of 965p, the share price started rising to today’s price of around 2,000p, including the effects of a stock split. It’s certainly not been a smooth climb, but a climb nonetheless.

Personally, I believe the new management team are making the right decisions to bring this business back from the brink of bankruptcy. And while it’s still too soon to tell, the new strategy seems to be working. Therefore I believe the Aston Martin share price can make a complete recovery over the long term, providing that the business can continue to drive more sales growth.

Having said that, it still has a long way to go. The debt pile is still significant, and profitability has yet to return. Therefore, I’m keeping this business on my watchlist for now.