Prodrive buy Aston Martin - News on Page 4 from different members

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pebb
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Because Ford really needs the $900 Million? Sure AM is profitable, but I'd think it would take a while for them to profit $900,000,000.

It's a very exclusive category that Aston is in and maybe Ford thinks money could be better spent on products that are more mainstream?
 
But ford have plenty of other companies and badges they can sell, like Jaguar, who arn't turning a profit. Jaguar is worth a fair bob or two, granted not as much as Aston, but that'd be getting a cash injection and cutting your losses all in one go.
 
live4speed
How solid a foundation is ProDrive really, does anyone know enough about ProDrives ability to fund such an outfit as Aston Martin to a level that would satisfy. If they have that ability then I'm all for it, if not, then definitely not.
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thats one of the problems i have with this,i have nothing against prodrive i think they are an awesome motorsport company,one of the best.but can they really get the funds together for devlopment,building,reseach etc for a production comapny? somehow i dont think so but i would love to see them do.
 
Race Idiot
The current X-Type is based on a Mondeo, jeez some people.
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And better yet, the chassis is shared with the Mazda 6!

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I think as long as Prodrive has the ability to build the two current Astons, they shouldn't have much of a problem in the near-future. And, given that Ford still controls a 15% share of Aston, my guess is that a bit of the engineering and such will come from Ford no matter what.

We'll see what happens. Maybe with Prodrive at the helm we'll see a return to the way things used to be done. Plus, they'll be owned by Britons again, so is it all such a bad thing?
 
YSSMAN
We'll see what happens. Maybe with Prodrive at the helm we'll see a return to the way things used to be done. Plus, they'll be owned by Britons again, so is it all such a bad thing?
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Well, everything that Prodrive has a hand in generally turns to gold. Having them at the reins will certainly be no bad thing. Aston will probably be Britain's largest car manufacturer too!
 
...You mean only British manufacturer? That is, it all likely depends on what happens with TVR too...
 
YSSMAN
...You mean only British manufacturer? That is, it all likely depends on what happens with TVR too...
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...apart from Caterham, Morgan, Noble, Westfield, Ultima, Ariel etc, etc.
 
YSSMAN
Good point. I guess I was thinking of "major" manufacturers.
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We don't have much in the way of domestically operated mass production companies, London Taxi's is probably the only one. But we do have some 400+ car manufacturers owned and based here.
 
YSSMAN
Good point. I guess I was thinking of "major" manufacturers.
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It's not a major company in the way you might think, but the U.K.'s McLaren was a major supercar company, and is also one of the U.K.'s finest. They don't build cars anymore, but they are still very much alive at rebuilding McLarens that owners want changed which make their cars technically almost new cars.
 
IMO, I'd say Prodrive (once in control of Aston) should just sell the standard V8 Vantage with the extra performance mods standard. The extra power alone should make it that much more appealing, particularly against the high-power Jaguars and Porsches.

I mean, lets face it the Vantage is pretty to look at and certainly has a wonderful bark coming out of the rear-end, but by no means is it a performance threat to any of it's direct competitors. It is one of the great pitfalls of most of the modern Astons, as they are beautiful cars both to look at and to drive, but the competition on a sporting level is just further ahead, plain and simple.

Does that mean that I wouldn't have an Aston? Certainly not. I'd be buying into some of the most beautiful cars ever made by mankind, and at least with the Vantage, one of the best-sounding cars ever made... I just have a harder time trying to separate from that $120K, particularly when it could buy me a brand-new GT3, or maybe a Z06/XK combo, or whatever...
 
Aston Martin arn't that far behind performance wise, infact they're pretty much on par with their respective competition, the Aston V8 Vantage competes with Porsche 911's in it's price range, not the 100k 911's. The DB9 was only 3 tenths of a second slower round the TopGear track than the Ferrari 575M HGTC, the only car on that list that would really steal any sales from the DB9. Besides that, the DB9 has been described as one of the best handling Gran Tourers ever built. Let's face it, you don't buy an Aston Martin to take it to the local track open days do you. Is one or two seconds round Road America really going to make someone who's after a fine crafted car that's comfey to drive all the time think "no, on second thoughts I'll have that barebones Corvette", or that "one mistake and it'll kill me 911 GT3 with a roll cage instead of rear seats". The 911 GT3 and the V8 Vantage don't compete, the 911 Carrera's and the V8 Vantage compete. Aston don't have a hot Vantage yet that's more track oriented. To give an extreme example, comparing cars like the DB9 to the Z06 ect, is like saying that someone will snub that Bently he's beenafter in favour of the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, because the Lambo is faster. It's not all about speed, not that the Astons are that far off in that department.
 
How about we don't start this argument every single time someone makes a passing reference to the Veyron, yes? Its getting so just saying a word with the same number of letters as Veyron starts an argument over it.
 
live4speed
Aston Martin don't really take on Ferrari, they build cars generally aimed at different markets. The Vanquish which is soon going out of production in someways competes with the 599 buyers wise, and only the AM V8 is targeted at 911 buyers. There's not much customer crossover between these companies. If you mean in motorsport terms, the ProDrive are already the company behind the DBR9's.
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So all that flak about the Vanquish S (and now DB9) being a solid alternative to the 575 was for nothing? :confused: Either way, you can't argue that Aston Martin has a long history (pre-1970) of making cars quite similar in image and substance to Ferrari's other GTs. It would be a long-overdue return to form if Prodrive looks at Aston Martin in this light.

*McLaren*
Technically, ProDrive has already been using Aston Martin to take on Ferrari and Porsche in the FIA. They haven't been that successful though against Porsche in the GT3 Championship.
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I was referring to sales, not racing. I'm well aware of the DBR9/V8 Vantage LM. Prodrive would have had far more success if they had more input on the base car, rather than just modifying Ford's version of an Aston Martin road car.
 
The Vanquish was a 575M competitor, and a good one at that. It certainly wasn't lagging behind in the performance stakes. The DB9 and 575 are on different levels price wise, as is the DB9 and 599. The 599 is better than the Vanquish but then the Vanquish is coming to the end of it's life and the 599 has just started. The only overlap between Aston marting and Ferrari is the Ferrari Grand Tourers, and they haven't had more than 1 Grand Tourer in their lineup at any one time for a long, long time. In the 60's supercars were generally more like Grand Tourers in design, so the supercar and Grand Tourer markets were virtually the same in most cases, with just a few standout supercars being vastly different ie the GT40, Lamborghini Muira ect. Besides all that, my point in the other post was that where the small overlap currently is between Aston Martin and Ferrari, Aston Martin arn't really behind on the sporting front. 0.3 seconds between the Vanquish S and 575 HGTC, two cars that competed. Thats nothing.
 
w00t Prodrive got it!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6442101.stm

BBC NEWS
Aston Martin sold to UK-led group
Luxury car firm Aston Martin is heading back to British hands after being sold to a UK-led group for £470m ($908m).

The consortium buying the marque from Ford is led by Dave Richards, head of UK performance car firm Prodrive, and supported by Kuwaiti investors.

The sale of the firm behind James Bond's favourite car comes as Ford tackles its own financial woes, though the group is holding onto a £40m stake.

Ford bought 75% of Aston Martin's shares in 1987, buying the rest later.

Mr Richards, who is making his investment in a personal capacity, is a former accountant who became a professional rally driver, and has been described as the "Richard Branson of motorsport".

"This is an incredible opportunity - Aston Martin is one of the world's most iconic brands," he said.

"We are confident we now have all the right ingredients to take Aston Martin to even greater heights."

'Exciting opportunity'

Also in the consortium is John Sinders, a banker in finance and shipping who spends his time between Texas and Dubai.

An Aston Martin owner with a great affection for the brand on both road and track, he told the BBC: "The dream for me was to own an Aston Martin, never to own part of the company. It's a dream come true."

Two Kuwaiti companies - Investment Dar and Adeem Investment - complete the group.

Ford is retaining a share worth £70m.

Six months ago the American giant put the marque back up for sale as a part in response to its financial problems.

Ford lost more than $12bn in 2006, and has had to take out a $23bn mortgage to cover its restructuring.

Mr Richards won the World Rally Championship as co-driver with Ari Vatanen in 1981.

Prodrive already runs the Aston Martin racing team in the sports car series around the world, as well as the Subaru world rally team.

Aston Martin chief executive Ulrich Bez said the partnership was "a tremendously exciting opportunity".

"It is a new beginning which will give the company the opportunity to attain an even higher level of excellence," he said.

"This next stage in the company's history promises to be the most exciting yet."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/6442101.stm

Published: 2007/03/12 13:31:31 GMT

© BBC MMVII
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Oh yeah! Aston's in good hands... Even Clarkson won't have anything to complain about. As long as they leave the exterior and focus on the guts, Astons could very well become some of the world's best-ever cars - they already look good (and sound good, as the V8 Vantage shows), and they already handle good - and with the help of Prodrive, they should be even better.

Now lets take care of TVR's ownership.
 
So Prodrive gets it 👍 that's really good news.

*McLaren*
It's not a major company in the way you might think, but the U.K.'s McLaren was a major supercar company, and is also one of the U.K.'s finest. They don't build cars anymore, but they are still very much alive at rebuilding McLarens that owners want changed which make their cars technically almost new cars.
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I believe they are still churning out the '722' SLR.
 
Wasn't it written somewhere that they're designing an 'SLS', which would be kinda like a lower-class SLR, with 3 seats again? I remember the test-mule shown was just the raw guts, without anything on it.
 

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