Ford's not abandoning Aston Martin
It'd be far too easy to dismiss as negligible the minority stake in Aston Martin retained by Ford after the sale, but even in the new era, Aston models will continue to benefit from its ties to the Ford Motor Corporation.
In addition to the safety systems expertise garnered from Aston's former PAG sister-company Volvo, on which we reported earlier, Ford resources will continue to have input into currently-produced and upcoming Aston Martin products. in a number of ways. First, Ford still owns the engine plant where Aston Martin's V8s and V12s are built, in Cologne, Germany. Second, even though Aston is no longer a wholly-owned Ford subsidiary, the British sportscar-maker will continue to benefit from FoMoCo's buying power in securing bulk rates on raw materials, especially aluminum. And third, Ford engineers are tipped to play an even larger role in developing future Astons, input which will come in handy especially as AM rushes to get the Rapide to market ahead of Porsche, which has been working on the Panamera for some time now.
When the sale was announced, Ford's statement read that they wished Aston Martin well in its new stage. As it turns out, they won't be leaving that up to chance.
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[Source: Motor Authority]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Trappspeed 6:39PM (3/19/2007)
http://www.trappspeed.com/
WTF! I was all excited that Aston Martin might be an independent British car company again and it's now apparent the same crappy Ford parts bin product are going to remain in the vehicles. Dissapointing.
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sdn 11:38PM (3/19/2007)
hmm... what financial incentive is in it for Ford?
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DPC car videos 6:58PM (3/19/2007)
I thought with the latest Aston cars and their racing team doing so well this company would survive and not be treated like a step child. They have been making some nice cars lately but they are a little overpriced considering Jaguar makes a similar product for half the price.
http://www.dpccars.com
DPCcars
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Tagg 7:34PM (3/19/2007)
Oh no, Aston Martin is junk because they use parts from "Fords parst bin". Give me a break! Ford has had a stake in Aston since the 80's and those "crappy" parts helped Aston Martin become relevant again in the Exotic market and then actually turn a profit. So save your Ford bashing and look at the facts, Aston may not exist of it were not for the "crappy Ford parts bin product".
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Bryan 7:18PM (3/19/2007)
Glad to see Ford is still helping out Aston. Ford had them for a long time and they produced some great cars under them! So why complain? Look what happens when Brits are allowed to make things on their own (Jaguar). Since Ford acquired them, its been better ever since. Look at the XF!!
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William 7:27PM (3/19/2007)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe someone already posted this article on Autoblog, with the same source, Motor Authority.
Nonetheless, I'm happy the production of the Rapide Concept has gone through. The car is just a stunning piece of machinery.
TheCarBlogger
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Tool 7:35PM (3/19/2007)
It's amazing that Ford would jettison its only profitable marque. The $1 billion, albeit helpful, was more of a symbolic move than anything.
Nevertheless, it was smart of them to retain a small ownership position and role in manufacturing and design.
I wouldn't be surprised to hear that FoMoCo has the ability to do a buyback some time in the future.
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Trapp Speed 10:08PM (3/19/2007)
"Oh no, Aston Martin is junk because they use parts from "Fords parst bin". Give me a break! Ford has had a stake in Aston since the 80's and those "crappy" parts helped Aston Martin become relevant again in the Exotic market and then actually turn a profit. So save your Ford bashing and look at the facts, Aston may not exist of it were not for the "crappy Ford parts bin product"."
Tagg
Fair enough, but please name an Aston Martin made in the 80's that anyone wants? Seriously dude. Ford parts bin, I meant it when I said it. Cheap, chintzy, drive a damn Ford and you'll know what I mean. I've been in quite a few Aston's and honestly the interior bits and pieces are not all that. However, the style alone carries the vehicle.
You're obviously free to disagree with my opinion, but you can't dispute the fact that Aston needs to differentiate itself from the Ford moniker. Look at the GT500...failure. It's Ford man, nothing against the company but high end and luxury will never come to mind.
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Hamud 12:19AM (3/20/2007)
#1 If Aston is where it's now, they certainly owes it to Ford... Good to know that Ford may stay behind the scene, hope they can really work together toward a better and stronger brand.
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ttruck 2:33AM (3/20/2007)
Aston Martin and Volvo should abandon Ford, now that would be not only a smart but BOLD MOVE!
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omar 9:25AM (3/20/2007)
number 10 i pray something like that could happen everyday, i want volvo to become apart of its old parent comapny AB Volvo again. Or what may be a good merger is Ford and mercedes benz after the sale of chrysler. then mercedes could run jaguar, volvo, and land rover, and then eventually sell of ford keeping the premier brands.
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Ian 11:54AM (3/20/2007)
Without Ford there would be NO Aston Martin today. It's risdiculous to think that AM could immediately disassociate themselves from Ford technology support and manufacturing expertise. You like that lovely AM engine? Think Ford and likely Cosworth. You think that AM is not British again? Think again, it's funded and largely owned by Kuwait..
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Spectacular Bid 5:59PM (3/20/2007)
To some degree sharing of parts from an unsexy parent is life - from airbag deployment triggers to mounting brackets of batteries. It is the interior elements and other driver/passenger interaction points that have to be unique. Door handles, speedometers, gear levers, etc. Those are the things you don't want out of the Ford 500 parts bins or even the Jaguar bins either.
Since someone mentioned it Aston's racing program had nothing to do with Ford or really Aston Martin for that matter. Prodrive, just as they did for Ferrari and their 550 Maranello GT cars, was reworking the Aston racers almost from scratch in-house by that expert shop. The body looks like the street model and the V-12 engine is AM but almost everything is refabricated.
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omar 9:19AM (3/22/2007)
does anybody have the slightest idea if volvo will factually be building a new large sedan to compete with the s class and 7 series. i was doing some serious searching and i found that volvo is in fact building a large most luxurious wagon to be called the V90( based off of the 2004 Volvo VCC concept), they caught the wagon doing some tests in northern Sweden. As far as Volvos go there is a wagon every sedan, and a volvo manager said that the next generation S40 will replace the current s40 and the s60.All of this is true, but only speculations have arised about a new large sedan. I cant wait to actually see that concept vehicle, or even a rendering.
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BenJammin 1:14PM (3/21/2007)
You people should be thanking Ford for taking over Aston. If it wasn't for that there would be no Aston. Nevermind that under Ford Aston produced the DB9 and the Vanquish, some of the most beautiful and timeless cars...period. It's also a good thing that Aston is retaining ties to Ford, that way they can put more money into the product instead of buying raw materials in limited quantities. Most Ford-haters have one thing in common: blatant, uninformed ignorance.
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BenJammin 12:33PM (3/21/2007)
And to the poster who said the GT500 was a Ford failure. If building cars that are so desirable that they are commanding $10,000 - $15,000 over sticker price price, then Ford Motor Company needs more failures like it! I'm sure Toyota would like a few similar failures as well. People really should be forced to take an IQ test before posting on the internet. Seriously.
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TheRavager 12:32PM (3/21/2007)
You people should be thanking Ford for taking over Aston. If it wasn't for Ford buyout then there would be no Aston. I love how you people disregard the fact that under Ford Aston Martin produced the DB9 and the Vanquish, some of the most beautiful and timeless cars...period. It's also a good thing that Aston is retaining ties to Ford, that way they can put more money into the product instead of spending premiums to secure raw materials in limited quantities. Most Ford-haters have one thing in common: blatant, uninformed ignorance.
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