Aston Martin has warned that it will miss its profit targets after tough headwinds continued into December, a key month.

The business said that "challenging trading conditions" it flagged up in November have not eased and, as a result, it has registered fewer sales, higher costs for selling each vehicle, and lower margins.

Aston Martin chief executive Andy Palmer said: "Our underlying performance will fail to deliver the profits we planned, despite a reduction in dealer stock levels."

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Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) is now expected to be around £130 million to £140 million, the company said.

Shares in the company fell around 14% to 448p after the stock markets opened on Tuesday morning.

On top of having to support customers to finance their buys more than expected, Aston Martin was also hit by a jump in the value of the pound after December's general election.

Dr Palmer said: "We are taking a series of actions to manage the business through this difficult period. This will include a cost-saving programme alongside a focus on returning dealer stock levels to those more normally associated with a luxury company; winning back our strong price positioning is a key focus."

Aston Martin's new DBX showed "very encouraging" signs after launching earlier in the year.

Rolls-Royce sold more cars last year than at any point in its 116-year history.

It exceeded 2018's record of 4,107 cars, to sell 5,152, a 25% jump.

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Rolls-Royce's Cullinan SUV making a "major contribution" to growing sales.

Rolls-Royce chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos said: "This performance is of an altogether different magnitude to any previous year's sales success. While we celebrate these remarkable results, we are conscious of our key promise to our customers - to keep our brand rare and exclusive."

However, he warned that the growth may not last into 2020, as sales of the Cullinan stabilise.

Rolls-Royce cars were sold at record rates in Russia, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Qatar and Korea, the company revealed. It has 135 dealerships worldwide.

Bentley Motors saw sales jump 5% last year on the back of a series of new models which hit the market.

The company sold 11,006 cars over the period, its seventh year of selling more than 10,000.

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The Americas was the best-performing region, with increases in Europe and the UK.

"Our sales performance reached over 11,000 customer deliveries for the fourth time in our 100-year history," said chairman Adrian Hallmark.

"This result secures Bentley's return to profitability, demonstrates the successful implementation of our turnaround, and sends a clear signal for the potential of Bentley for 2020 and into our next century."