And Aston Martin goes to… Prodrive! The bid for Aston Martin was won by a consortium of private investors headed by David Richards who heads Prodrive, a British automotive company that tunes cars and manages Aston Martin’s racing team. Perhaps for readers of this blog, you might know Prodrive best by their exciting creation, the Prodrive P2.
Cash-strapped Ford would welcome the US$870 million or so that this sale would bring it. Financially, the consortium is backed up by Kuwaiti firms Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co. The deal also involves details on sourcing, including the somewhat shared DNA of Aston Martins and Jaguar’s sports car, as well as the supply of Aston Martin’s engines from a Ford plant in Germany. Ford will retain a 15 percent stake in the British luxury automaker.
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hmm… this should be nice… i hope prodrive can give more ummpphh on astons as these cars really superamazing!!! which they can tune up the db9 as well, see wat prodrive can do on the car besides of wat we saw on james bond's dbs in casino royale…
brilliant… wana see how prodrive will tune up the remarkable db9 besides of wat we have seen the dbs from casino royale…
Finally ……Aston Martin balik kampung
albagmane, Aston is already planning production of the "007" Aston Martin named DBS to replace the soon to cease production Vanquish as their flagship. In fact, the have called in prodrive to setup the handling of the car and also their AMV8 model as well.
A good move in terms of technical advancement because Prodrive have all the resources to make Aston's great again (not that they are not but they still lose to 911s). Just not sure financially as i have no idea how rich Prodrive is. Maybe since they run so many racing programmes, they should have some back up.
Aston is in safe hands.
oh prodrive come and buy proton. :p
Wow, this is definitely good news for Aston fans like me! Long live Aston Martin!
I'd say it is wiser for Prodrive to focus on its tuning business than to flirt with AM. Remember MG-Rover?
Another British carmaker sold, but to another British carmaker this time, so it's not all that bad. Kinda curious if future Aston Martins will still keep to tradition or take a radical change.
Prodrive going to F1 next year right???
Well, at least it good to know that it has not fallen into the hands of a non British hands. Was kinda worried when James May of Top Gear said that the highest bidder at the time of the episode was a Egyptian company.
Otherwise, we can see no improvements but latest addition of fury Egyptian carpets in the new models and also the name to be changed to "Abdul Martin" :)
Abdul Martin??? LOL.. more likely Sheikh Martin :)
If Spain…. will it be Ricky M..?? hehe
Let's hope the Brits realize that this is their second chance at retaining their own auto business. Unfortunately they probably need to make it a more acceptable product to stay current and keep Aston Martin longer than Daniel Craig had on-screen time with it.
unfortunately, the "real" british car industry is still an industry of niche and low volume car makers. the aston is still an unachievable target for the huge majority of the motoring public.
at least some brands who are owned by foreigners still maintain their identity and have achieved success, like mini for example…
I wouldn't say that a huge majority of the Brits would buy an Aston Martin. They would love to own one though. Vauxhalls and Rover were for masses. Every other car maker has gone thinking of their rich heritage and try to sell the expensive luxury models. Therefore more profits, allegedly. But the UK is the most expensive country in Europe to own (buy and live with) a car. Also the most expensive cost to make one too.