To build cars that appeal to female customers, Aston Martin needs to integrate female employees into the company in a meaningful way, CEO Andy Palmer said in an interview with Business Insider.

Palmer highlighted female executives like Laura Schwab, president of Aston Martin the Americas, and Nikki Rimmington, Aston Martin's vice president and chief planning officer.

But a report available on the company's website with data from April 2018 shows that it still has a long way to go in promoting gender parity.

As of April 2018, just 14.1% of Aston Martin's workforce was female, down slightly from 14.7% in April 2017.

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When Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer arrived at the luxury automaker in 2014, he felt its female employees were being held back from reaching their full potential. To build cars that would appeal to female customers, Palmer realized the company would have to integrate female employees in a meaningful way.

"A bunch of guys sitting in Gaydon [the site of Aston Martin's headquarters] are never going to successfully design cars for women," Palmer said in an interview with Business Insider. "You've got to embed women, and women that aren't there just because they wear a skirt, right? They're there because they're authentically good. The best of the best. They need to grow inside your management system."

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If given the opportunity, women will earn jobs and promotions at the same rate as men, since women and men are equally likely to perform well, Palmer said. He highlighted female executives like Laura Schwab, president of Aston Martin the Americas, and Nikki Rimmington, Aston Martin's vice president and chief planning officer, but a report with data from April 2018 available on the company's website shows that it still has a long way to go in promoting gender parity.

As of April 2018, just 14.1% of Aston Martin's workforce was female, down slightly from 14.7% in April 2017. And just 9.4% of the employees who ranked among the top 25% in pay were women in April 2018, down from 14.8% in April 2017.

"We continue to have a higher number of males than females occupying senior leadership positions, which attract higher salaries and bonus payments," the company said in the report.