Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury performance cars, whose headquarters are at
Gaydon, Warwickshire, England. The company name is derived from the Aston Clinton
hill climb and one of the company's founders, Lionel
Martin.
From 1994 until 2007 Aston Martin was part of the Premier Automotive Group,
a division of the Ford Motor Company. On 12 March
2007, it was purchased by a British consortium led by David Richards of Prodrive for £479 million.[1]
History
Foundation
Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the
previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London where they
also serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced
specials at Aston Hill near Aston
Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles. The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by
Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908
Isotta-Fraschini.[2] They acquired premises at Henniker Place in Kensington and
produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of the outbreak of World
War I, and Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford the Royal Army Service Corps. All machinery was sold to the
Sopwith Aviation Company.
Aston Martin 2-Litre 2/4-Seater Sports 1937
Inter war years
After the war the company was refounded at Abingdon Road, Kensington and a new car designed to carry the Aston-Martin name.
Bamford left in 1920 and the company was revitalised with funding from Count Louis
Zborowski. In 1922, Bamford & Martin produced cars to compete in the French Grand
Prix, and the cars set world speed and endurance records at Brooklands. The company
went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by Lady Charnwood, who put her son John Benson on the board. The company failed again in
1925 and the factory closed in 1926, with Lionel Martin leaving.
Later that year, a number of rich investors, including Lady Charnwood, took control of the company and renamed it Aston Martin
Motors, and moved it to the former Citroën plant in Feltham.
Benson brought in Augusto Bertelli as designer. The 1929 Aston Martin International was a successful racer and was followed by
the Le Mans and the Ulster. Financial problems reappeared in 1932 and the company was rescued by L. Prideaux Brune who funded it
for the following year before passing the company on to Sir Arthur Sutherland. In 1936, the company decided to concentrate on
road cars. Car production had always been on a small scale and until the advent of World War
II halted work only about 700 had been made. During the war years aircraft components were made.
The David Brown era
1958 Aston Martin DB Mark III
In 1947, David Brown Limited bought the company under the leadership of managing
director Sir David Brown — its "post-war saviour". David Brown also acquired
Lagonda that year, and both companies shared resources and workshops. In 1955, David Brown
bought the Tickford coachbuilding company and its site at Tickford Street in Newport Pagnell, and that was the beginning of the classic series of cars bearing the initials "DB". In
1950, the company announced the DB2, followed by the racing DB3 in 1957 and the Italian-styled 3.7 L DB4 in 1958.
All the cars established a good racing pedigree for the firm, but the DB4 was the key to establishing the company's reputation,
which was cemented by the famous DB5 in 1963. The company continued developing the
"grand touring" style with the DB6 (1965–70), the DBS, and the DBS V8 (1967–72).
1970s - Changing ownership
Despite the cars' appreciation in value, the company was often financially troubled. In 1972, it was sold to a
Birmingham-based consortium, owned by William Willson, (MBE), and resold in 1975 to North American businessmen Peter Sprague and George
Minden. The new owners pushed the company into modernizing its line, producing the V8 Vantage in 1977, the convertible Volante in
1978, and the one-off William Towns-styled Bulldog in 1980. Towns also styled the futuristic new Lagonda saloon, based on the V8 model.
In 1980 Aston-Martin had plans, which did not materialize, to buy MG, which they would have
utilized as a sister marque, probably building smaller sports cars. Ideas were plotted to design a new model and they revealed to
the press their approach to an 'updated' '1981' model MGB.
As worldwide sales of Aston Martin shrank to three per week, chairman Alan Curtis
together with fellow shareholders American Peter Sprague and Canadian George Minden, had almost chosen to shut down the production side of the business and concentrate on service
and restoration. Curtis attended the 1980 Pace sponsored Stirling Moss benefit day at Brands Hatch, and met fellow
Farnham resident Victor Gauntlett.
1980s - Victor Gauntlett
Gauntlett bought a 10% stake in Aston Martin for £500,000 via Pace
Petroleum in 1980, with Tim Hearley of CH Industrials
taking a similar share. Pace and CHI took over as joint 50/50 owners at the beginning of 1981, with Gauntlett as executive
chairman. Gauntlett also led the sales team, and after some development and a lot of publicity when it became the world’s fastest
4-seater production car, was able to sell with success the Aston Martin Lagonda
into Persian Gulf states, particularly Oman, Kuwait and
Qatar.[3]
Understanding it would take some time to develop new Aston Martin products, they bought Tickford to develop automotive products for other companies. Products included a Tickford Austin Metro, a Tickford Ford Capri and even Tickford train
interiors, particularly on the Jaguar XJS.[4] Pace continued sponsoring racing events, and now sponsored all Aston Martin Owners Club events,
taking a Tickford engined Nimrod Group C car owned by AMOC President Viscount Downe,
which came third in the Manufacturers Championship in both 1982 and 1983. It also finished seventh in the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans
race. However, sales of production cars were now at an all time low of 30 cars produced in 1982.[5]
As trading became tighter in the petroleum market, and Aston Martin was requiring more time and money, Gauntlett agreed to
sell Hays/Pace to the Kuwait Investment Office in September 1983. As Aston Martin required
greater investment, he also agreed to sell his share holding to American importer and Greek shipping tycoon Peter Livanos, who invested via his joint venture company with Nick and
John Papanicalou, ALL Inc. Gauntlett remained chairman of the AML company 55% owned by ALL, with
Tickford a 50/50 venture between ALL and CHI. The uneasy relationship was ended when ALL exercised options to buy a larger share
in AML; CHI's residual shares were exchanged for CHI's complete ownership of Tickford, which retained development of existing
Aston Martin projects. In 1984, Titan the main shipping company of the Papanicolaou’s was in trouble, so Livanos's father George
bought out the Papanicolaou's shares in ALL, while Gauntlett again became a shareholder with a 25% holding in AML. The deal
valued Aston Martin/AML at £2 million pounds, the year it built its 10,000th car.[6]
Although as a result Aston Martin had to make 60 members of the workforce redundant, Gauntlett bought a stake in Italian styling house Zagato, and resurrected its collaboration with Aston Martin.
In 1986, Gauntlett negotiated the return of fictional British secret agent James Bond to
Aston Martin. Cubby Broccoli had chosen to recast the character using actor
Timothy Dalton, in an attempt to re-root the Bond-brand back to a more Sean Connery-like feel. Gauntlett supplied his personal pre-production Vantage for use in the filming of "The Living
Daylights," and sold a Volante to Broccoli for use at his home in America. Unfortunately, Gauntlett turned down the role
of a KGB colonel in the film: "I would have loved to have done it but really could not afford the
time."[7]
Although the company was doing well, Gauntlett knew it needed extra funds to survive in the long term. In May 1987, Gauntlett and Prince Michael of Kent were staying at the home
of Contessa Maggi, the wife of the founder of the original Mille Miglia, while watching the
revival event. Another house guest was Walter Hayes, vice-President of Ford of Europe. Despite problems over the previous acquisition of AC Cars,
Hays saw the potential of the brand and the discussion resulted in Ford taking a
share holding in September 1987.[8] In 1988, having produced some 5,000 cars in 20 years, a revived economy and successful sales of
limited edition Vantage, and 52 Volante
Zagato coupes at £86,000 each; the company finally retired the ancient V8 and introduced the Virage range - the first new Aston launched in 20 years.
Although Gauntlett was contractually to stay as chairman for two years, his racing interests took Aston back into sports car
racing in 1989 with limited European success. However, with engine rule changes for the 1990 season and the launch of the new
Aston Martin Volante model, Ford provided the limited supply of Cosworth engines to the Jaguar cars racing team. As the "small Aston" DB7 would require a large engineering input, Ford agreed to take full control of Aston
Martin, and Gauntlett handed over the company chairmanship to Hayes in 1991.[9] In 1992, the Vantage version was announced, and the
following year the company renewed the DB range by announcing the DB7.
The Ford era
Ford placed Aston in the Premier Automotive Group, substantially invested in
new manufacturing and quickly ramped up production. In 1994, Ford opened a new factory at Banbury Road in Bloxham. In 1995, the company produced a record 700 vehicles. In 1998 the 2,000th DB7 was built, and in 2002 the
6,000th, exceeding production of all previous DB models. The DB7 range was boosted by the addition of V12 Vantage models in 1999, and in 2001 the company introduced the V12-engine Vanquish.
At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan in 2003, Aston
Martin introduced the AMV8 Vantage concept car. Expected to have few
changes before its introduction in 2005, the Vantage brought back the classic V8 engine to allow the company to compete in a
larger market. 2003 also saw the opening of the Gaydon factory, the first purpose-built factory
in Aston Martin's history. Also introduced in 2003 was the DB9 coupé, which replaced
the ten-year-old DB7. A convertible version of the DB9,
the DB9 Volante, was introduced at the 2004 Detroit Auto Show. In 2006, the
V8 Vantage sports car entered production at the Gaydon factory, joining the DB9
and DB9 Volante.
In December 2003 Aston Martin announced it would return to motor racing in 2005. A new division was created, called
Aston Martin Racing, which became responsible, together with Prodrive, for the design, development, and management of the DBR9 program. The DBR9 competes in the GT class in
sports car races, including the world-famous 24
hours of Le Mans.
Sale by Ford
In light of mounting financial pressure, and after internal review of costs and realisable value on investment, Ford decided
to look at selling parts of its Premium Automotive Group. After suggestions of selling Jaguar
Cars, Land Rover or Volvo Cars, Ford appointed
UBS AG to sell Aston Martin by auction. At the end of August
2006, Ford announced that it would be willing to sell all or part of Aston Martin. Bill Ford said: "As part of our on going
strategic review, we have determined that Aston Martin may be an attractive opportunity to raise capital and generate
value".[10]
The first round of the auction closed on 30 November, 2006.
[11] One of the four survivors was Syrian-born
billionaire Simon Halabi,[12] while the Australian bid included James Packer, Australia's
richest man.[13] The German auto newspaper
Autobild reported on 2 February 2007 that the luxury
goods conglomerate LVMH had bought the company for an undisclosed sum. The paper cited "anonymous,
but well-placed sources" with the information. It was later reported by Autocar magazine that LVMH had denied the news as
"rubbish".
On 12 March 2007 a consortium led by Prodrive chairman David Richards purchased Aston Martin for
£475m/USD$848m.[14] Prodrive has no financial involvement in the
deal.[15] Ford will keep a stake in the company (valued
at GBP 40 million / USD 70 million). The consortium also consisted of John Sinders, an Aston Martin
collector; and two Kuwaiti investment companies, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co.
Aston Martins on film and culture
Author Ian Fleming gave his James Bond hero a DB Mark
III in the seventh novel, Goldfinger. A long association between 007 and the
marque began on screen with the silver DB5 that appears in Goldfinger (1964)
and Thunderball (1965). This was James Bond's company car, and in
GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow
Never Dies (1997) appeared to have become his private car. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) a metallic-green DBS appears at the
beginning and end of the movie. After an interlude with Lotus, Aston Martins were again used:
a charcoal-grey V8 Volante and Vantage in The Living Daylights (1987). After
switching to BMW for several films, the Vanquish appeared in Die Another Day (2002) & The Italian Job (2003).
Rowan Atkinson's own DB7 Vantage was used in Johnny
English (2003). In Casino Royale (2006), James Bond drives
both the classic DB5 which becomes his personal vehicle after winning a poker game, and the new DBS which is revealed to be his
new company car. In the film Gorgeous (1999) Jackie Chan drives an Aston
Martin.
Models
1967 - 1989 DBS and later V8s
|
2001 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage
|
2004 Aston Martin DB9 coupé
|
|
|
|
2003 DB7 Zagato (coupé) and DB AR1 (roadster)
|
2006 Aston Martin DB9 Volante (convertible)
|
Broughtons Aston Martin Showroom, Cheltenham
|
Aston Martin's model naming can be confusing to the uninitiated. In general, high performance models use the Vantage name, while convertibles are called Volante.
Pre-war cars
- 1921-1925 Aston Martin Standard Sports
- 1927-1932 Aston Martin First Series
- 1929-1932 Aston Martin International
- 1932-1932 Aston Martin International Le Mans
- 1932-1934 Aston Martin Le Mans
- 1933-1934 Aston Martin 12/50 Standard
- 1934-1936 Aston Martin Mk II
- 1934-1936 Aston Martin Ulster
- 1936-1938 Aston Martin 2 litre Speed
- 1937-1939 Aston Martin 15/98
- 1939-1939 Aston Martin 2 litre C-Type
Post-war Sports and GT cars
Other
Current models
Future models
- Rapide - Addition to the range in 2007 - a long, 4-seater Grand Tourer
- A DBX model was mentioned on the call announcing the sale of Aston Martin to the consortium led by David Richards and CEO,
Ulrich Bez. No further details were provided. The DBX was later revealed to be a possible new flagship for Aston Martin based on
the Zagato and compete against the Mercedes McLaren SLR, with speed over 205mph
and a V12 mid engine tuned to produce 700bhp.[1]
Race cars
- See also: List of Formula One constructors
Whole race cars (post-war)
A
Group C Nimrod NRA/C2 which used Aston
Martin V8 engines(at the goodwood festival of speed).
Engine supply only
- Lola T70-Aston Martin (1967)
- Nimrod NRA/C2-Aston Martin (1982-1984)
- EMKA C84/1-Aston Martin (1984-1985)
- Cheetah G604-Aston Martin
Notes
See also
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Aston Martin Czech site
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