In today's chaotic automotive industry, if you're not merging, divesting, or collaborating, then you're just not trying. Both Aston Martin and Mercedes are only about 18 months removed from their respective divorces from Ford and Chrysler, and now the two luxury automakers are looking to shack up with one another. This time, though, they'll skip wedded bliss in favor of a limited agreement between two consensual companies. CARgave us some details in on the limited partnership in its September issue, and now the British rag is making with the details.
Click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Such is the logic of luxury economics: charge tens of thousands of dollars more for the same product, sell fewer of them and boost the balance sheet and your brand's long-term viability. That is what Aston Martin's considering for the next phase of its business plan, which runs from roughly 2011 to 2019 and will see the launch of DB9 and Vantage successors, the Rapide, and the renewed Lagonda brand.
The Vantage and DB9 are big sellers for Aston, but the company might be unsure of how to sustain the momentum. One option is to move the price of the $113,000 Vantage closer to the $171,000 DB9, and move that latter car closer to the $265,000 DBS, sell fewer of them but make more money. The DB9 does strike us as a (relative) bargain – it's cheaper than a Bentley GT -- but pricing the Vantage closer to the DB9 would seem to wreck its business case as a 911 fighter. Another option could be to replace the Vantage or DB9 with a mid-engined sports car, which could be drool-worthy and well worth the price bump... but perhaps un-Aston-like.
AutoWeek also appears to report that the One-77 isn't sold out, writing "Although Aston has said that it would make a maximum of 77 cars, insiders privately say the market is closer to 25." We don't know how that could be, unless a bunch of the 100 people who applied to buy the car were just kidding...
Gallery: First Drive: 2009 Aston Martin V8 Vantage
To the 'Ring we go, and our companions today are -- in the apt words of World Car Fans -- "beauty and the beast." That would be the Aston Martin Rapide and the Porsche Panamera. We'll let you decide which one deserves which title. Follow the link and you'll find a large gallery of both cars in basic black, un-camo'ed and racing each other around the 'Ring to help cast your vote.
In practical considerations, the Panamera looks to have the Rapide beat in all kinds of ways. For instance, it should get better gas mileage if you get the V6 or V8, and it has more trunk space with 450 liters. Aston's cars have little trunk syndrome, and the Rapide probably won't really change that. But hey, who would buy a Panamera or Rapide for practical reasons? Either way, we won't really know the state of things until the 2009 Geneva Motor Show next March when they are officially introduced.
Click above for high-res gallery of new Aston Martin Rapide spy shots
The latest four-door Aston Martin (remember the Lagonda?) has been spied lapping the famed Nurburgring in Germany, which is a far cry from the frozen lakes of Sweden where it had previously been caught testing. Spy photographers, however, have noticed something different with this Rapide prototype now that all the snow's been brushed off: a glass roof. The transparent canopy extends from the windshield all the way to the back hatch, which is some impressive acreage considering the length of this car's wheelbase. Wearing hardly any camouflage, it's apparent that the Rapide is progressing nicely from concept to production with nary a tweak to dull its sexy shape. It will likely be the first all-new car debuted under the brand's new ownership, though much of the development work was performed when it was still owned by Ford.
Click above for high-res gallery of the Aston Martin Rapide
One of the first decisions that David Richards and his partners made after buying Aston Martin from Ford last year was to produce the four-door Rapide. The platform architecture of the DB9 was designed to be easily stretched in both length and width, making derivatives like the Rapide and the DBS a possibility without much fuss and expense. There was, however, one annoying little detail to address with the Rapide. Aston Martin's UK manufacturing facilities are already running full-tilt building the DB9, DBS and V8 Vantage.. Aston had to find somewhere else to build the new car, and Magna Steyr stepped into the breach. Magna will set up a new manufacturing facility dedicated to Rapide production at its factory in Graz, Austria. The Aston Martin Rapide Plant will be patterned after the processes at the Gaydon plant in the UK where other Astons are built, and production of some 2,000 Rapides a year will begin late next year in Graz.
Faulty economy or not, top-end luxury purchases are on the rise, and the new owners of Aston Martin are looking to capitalize on the trend. Plans are in place to increase Aston production from 7,000 units in 2007 up to 8,000 in 2008, but the top-luxury automaker's new owners want more. DAR (owns 50% of Aston) business development manager Adham Charanoglu has met recently with Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Daimler with regards to leveraging the Aston Martin brand with high end luxury products. While increasing merchandising revenue from $100m to up to $300m by whoring out the Aston name is nothing to sneeze at, we're mostly interested in the British automaker's conversations with Mercedes.
Charanoglu told Reuters that the two automakers could one day collaborate on everything from platforms to powertrains. It makes sense that Aston is looking to buddy up with another high-end automaker since minority owner Ford will soon be without Jaguar, so development costs could go up if Tata decides to break off ties. We're betting that only the high-end Mercedes products would be included in any partnership, though, as Aston likely won't dip below the $100,000 barrier, and an S-Class-based Aston could give Bentley fits. Rumor has it that Aston has already considered building the Rapide outside of Gaydon, so there's a chance that an Aston Mercedes could be built outside the UK.
click above for more high-res spy shots of the Aston Martin Rapide on ice
Spy photographers have officially found Aston Martin's preferred location for sub-zero testing. Following two spy shots of the new four-door Rapide filling up, we have this new batch of snaps showing the Rapide auditioning for a spot in the Ice Capades. Actually, Aston's newest model is likely undergoing testing for both its traction control system and how well the car handles cold weather.
The photographers from KGP also pointed out for us what has changed on the Rapide so far, which, as we remarked last time, is surprisingly little. The sideview mirrors are now larger and located on the A-pillar, whereas the concept's delicate mirrors were placed on the fenders. The concept also featured side turn markers located in the Rapide's front fender vents, though it appears the production vehicle will relocate the turn signal to below the vents on the fenders themselves.
This niche segment of four-door luxury coupes will soon be populated by the original founder, the Mercedes-Benz CLS, as well as the Rapide and the Porsche Panamera. While the CLS has long been considered a pioneering and breathtaking design, the Rapide will certainly hold its own in the drop-dead-gorgeous category. Then there's the ugly duckling Panamera, which we hope has the technological prowess to make up for its aesthetic pitfalls.
With its Le Mans racing program soon to be bolstered by GT2 and LMP1 entries, and with sales of its ever-so-desirable GTs ever increasing, Aston Martin is preparing to add the four-door Rapide to its production line-up. And if this spy shot is any indication, things seem to be moving along nicely.
Aston was anticipated to decide by year's end where the Rapide would be built. Although the company just moved to a new facility in Gaydon, the automaker was reportedly in discussions with a number of smaller contractors – including Pininfarina, Karmann, Magna-Steyr and Valmet – over potentially outsourcing the Rapide's manufacturing. As we already know, these private coachbuilders are all in dire need of the contract.
Confirmation that Aston would build the Rapide was one of the first things its new owners did after acquiring the company from Ford, and we're looking forward to seeing the production version in the flesh after seeing this spy shot.
Now that Ford is no longer in control of Aston Martin, AutoCar had a chat with new AM Chairman David Richards about the future of the no-longer-as-exclusive, but still very expensive British car maker. Richards made clear that Ulrich Bez is still very much in charge of day to day operations at Aston, and he represents the owners and helps plot strategy. The company that produced only a few hundred cars a year as recently as fifteen years ago is now closing in on five figure annual sales.
To help achieve that, a replacement for the Vanquish that's based on the DBS (above) that appeared in the last James Bond movie will be in production soon. Likewise, the four-door Rapide should be ready by 2009. The DB in Aston's model names stood for former owner David Brown, who rescued the company in the 1950s. Apparently Richards is not keen on the idea of changing the nomenclature to reflect his own initials, so future models will still be named for Mr. Brown.
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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