Ford sell Aston Martin for £480m

mike65

from Guardian

David Richards (yes the David Richards F1), the new owner and chairman of Aston Martin, has promised to take James Bond's favourite car "to even greater heights" as he clinched a £480m deal with Ford to bring the sports car maker back under partial British control.

Around 200 jobs will be created overall at the company and new models launched as Aston Martin's new owners start a big push to sell its cars in Russia and Asia.

The Warwickshire-based sports car manufacturer, in which Ford will retain a £40m holding, will start producing a £91,000 V8 Vantage Roadster in April, a DBS - as driven by Daniel Craig in the latest Bond film, Casino Royale - from October and a four-seater Rapide in 2010.

This will involve new investment at the purpose-built Gaydon factory and an increase in staff to 1,800.

Total output will remain 7,000 cars a year with production due to cease at the Newport Pagnell plant when the Vanquish S model ends in July.

Aston Martin is to open a dealership in Moscow in June and another in Shanghai this year as it seeks new markets away from its traditional ones in Europe and America.

The company's chief executive, Ulrich Bez who has committed himself to at least five more years in that role said he expected Asia Pacific to account for 25% of its total sales and leaving it less dependent on changes in individual markets.

Mr Richards, head of the Prodrive car engineering firm, said :"We are confident we now have all the right ingredients to take Aston Martin to even greater heights."

He would not reveal the size of the stakes held by any of the new owners, but said Kuwaiti co-investors Investment Dar and Adeem Investment were long-term backers.

Both Adnan al-Mussallam, chairman of Investment Dar, and Mustafa al-Saleh, chief executive of Adeem, were at a press conference for the takeover deal. Mr al-Mussallam said he was "very proud" to be involved in Aston Martin.

The deal was part of a strategy of moving investments from its Middle East heartland into Europe.

A Ford spokesman said there were no plans to sell off other UK subsidiaries such as Jaguar and Land Rover, but said: "We continue to review all our businesses."

The only marque in Fords empire thats making a profit (though Ford Europe also making money) and they sell it on, I guess they reckon the profit/turnover ratio is'nt good enough to justify new investment so got rid. Ford is aparently re-postioning its product range towards mass market at lower average unit prices, so who's next?

Mike.

kaimera

Fiat to sell Ferrari.

Seems supercars make too much money.