Ford today officially announced the sale of Aston Martin to an investment group lead by Prodrive founder and chairman David Richards. The deal — expected to close during the second quarter — is valued at $925 million, the company said. Ford plans to retain a small $77 million stake in Aston.
The new owner of Aston Martin is a consortium comprised of: David Richards, founder and chairman of Prodrive, a world-leading motorsport and automotive technology company; John Sinders, an avid Aston Martin collector and a backer of Aston Martin Racing; and Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co, international investment companies headquartered in Kuwait.
CEO Dr Ulrich Bez will remain in charge of Aston Martin.
Ford announced in August it intended to sell the company in order to raise capital. In November, it was reported Aston Martin would likely become an independent car company, since no major automaker expressed an interest in acquiring the marquee.
Rumors that Aston Martin would be been sold to luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton (LVMH) surfaced earlier this year, and were promptly shot down as “absolute rubbish.”
Prodrive revealed a tuning package for the Aston Martin V8 Vantage. The company tuned the 4.3 litre V8 engine to raise peak power from 380 hp to 425 hp, as well as increasing peak torque from 302 lb/ft to 325 lb/ft. This reduces the car’s 0-62 mph time from 5.0 secs to 4.7 secs (est).
03/12, 9:40 AM
posted by:
theshadow
Can’t wait to see what Aston will be capable of now…the Rapide should be a stunner, the DB9 platform’s got a good amount on life left in it as does the AMV8 version. Would like to see them do a hardcore trackday car/more racing versions, as well as more luxurious versions.
03/12, 9:48 AM
posted by:
Renton
No dout Aston will become a more sporting marque now. Prodrive is the real deal.
With Ford still in the picture, my guess is they will still use Ford drivetrains and electronics.
With Prodrive trying to sport an F1 team, will they now call it Aston Martin?
03/12, 9:49 AM
posted by:
felixml
We will see,
AM was doing very well with Ford’s money.
Now it’s gonna be quite different.
Let’s all hope it does not mean – back to miserable 80s.
03/12, 10:11 AM
posted by:
Fatstrat
Prodrive has the passion. This is always not enough, hopefully they can muster the funds to match.
AM fans should be grateful to Ford for keeping AM at the least viable over it’s ownership period. It very easily could of totally slipped away.
03/12, 10:33 AM
posted by:
zigzagz94
Can we please get an Aston Martin (prodrive) P2! I want an entry level cayman-esque baby Aston Martin. The P2 was a beast of a concept vehicle that was production ready, maybe now it can see the light of day.
03/12, 10:40 AM
posted by:
angelo
Ford, in all of its incompetence, did do a good job with Aston Martin. Prodrive has the challenge of maintaining or exceeding the success of the last few years. Good luck to them, millions of fans will be watching, and judging.
03/12, 10:50 AM
posted by:
55amg
go aston go!!
03/12, 11:10 AM
posted by:
Hyperion
Very good news!
03/12, 11:39 AM
posted by:
carnut
What hapens to Ian Callum? Does he stay with Aston with the new ownership, or is he stuck with Ford?
03/12, 11:40 AM
posted by:
Saud
Nuts, I cant help but agree with felixml’s prediction.
03/12, 11:46 AM
posted by:
Toy Yoda
So will we see an Aston Martin, or a Jaguar in the next Bond film?
03/12, 11:58 AM
posted by:
94Mark8
Well..there goes any profit from PAG for Ford…personally I think it is not a smart move, they dumped all that engineering money into the company but because they are running tight now just sell it off for some quick cash. It will be interesting though now to see what Jaguar can do now that they have the old designer from AM.
03/12, 12:05 PM
posted by:
Aston Martin
Astons are virtually perfect, no improvement can be made to their cars. Ford should have kept the company, it was beginning to be profitable.
03/12, 12:07 PM
posted by:
F451
It appears to have been transferred to the right hands. I just hope that Jaguar can survive and thrive through all its transitions.
03/12, 12:14 PM
posted by:
Renton
felixml, Saud
If you think that the loss of Ford money is a bad thing; I think it is a good thing.
Gone is the big corporate red tape.
Hello Oil Money!
Hello Prodrive engineering!
Remember what a Prodrive P2 is and what those engineers accomplished with a mediocre subcompact Subaru that is not even sold in the US.
If you forgot here it is :
http://www.leftlanenews.com/topgear-tests-the-prodrive-p2.html
03/12, 12:20 PM
posted by:
Renton
Well that video is unvailable, but I found it here:
http://paultan.org/archives/2006/06/08/top-gear-prodrive-p2/
Whatch it B4 they pull it.
03/12, 12:35 PM
posted by:
rafgtr
So Prodrive owns Aston. And Prodrive also has the right to start up F1 last new team. They can’t possibly badge that as the Prodrive Subaru F1 team now can it?
Prodrive Aston F1? At least it’s in good hands yet.
03/12, 12:38 PM
posted by:
peter g
Yay! Good prospects!
03/12, 12:40 PM
posted by:
peter g
By the way: What about the four door Rapid then?
03/12, 12:49 PM
posted by:
nowei
I believe I remember hearing someone (possibly Jeremy Clarkson) musing about the possibility that a Jaguar would be the next Bond car if Ford sold Aston Martin.
That being said, I also believe that Ford only had a three picture deal (two of which have already been made). And I’m not sure if they were interested in renewing the deal.
So the next Bond car will be a Ford of some sort (not sure if a 77 million dollar stake in Aston is enough of a reason for them to keep it as the Bond car).
After that, who knows.
03/12, 3:43 PM
posted by:
A4
prodrive should do wonders for aston so long as they have the money $$$
03/12, 4:26 PM
posted by:
1966_GTO_
Good news. Aston Martin was too good to be under Ford’s ownership. I guess Jag won’t be able to steal AM styling anymore.
03/12, 4:43 PM
posted by:
DialM4Speed
Hmm, Aston seems to be making money for us… I know lets sell it off! Great idea Ford!
03/12, 6:07 PM
posted by:
Cobradreamer427
Thank God it went to a company with a motor sport history.
03/12, 8:21 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
Finally Ford got rid of one of their brands. Now onto Land Rover, Mercury and most importantly Jaguar!
03/12, 9:38 PM
posted by:
Renton
1c3d0g — the only thing they can do with Mercury is take it out the barn and shoot it.
03/12, 10:45 PM
posted by:
350zfairlady
Toy Yoda-I heard an automatic jag will be used in the next bond movie because the new bond (Daniel Craig) can’t drive a stick, therefore he should not be bond.
03/13, 1:31 AM
posted by:
europerspective
^^ so stupid on so many levels.
03/19, 10:30 AM
posted by:
maximus
http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/finalword/2006-06-27-final-word_x.htm
read that, the story that Bond couldn’t drive stick was a hoax
08/04, 10:36 PM
posted by:
dgreenshi
The money ford put in to aston martin was enough to keep all of england fed for years they did an excellent job . all the astons you see today were born of ford money as well as engineering . I love aston, but we all need to give ford credit with helping to create some of the best aston martins of all time .