Sold! Aston Martin under new ownership

After nearly two decades under the Ford umbrella, Aston Martin has been sold to an investment group headed up by David Richards of Prodrive and Subaru World Rally Team fame, with finance coming from American and Middle East sources.

Ford has apparently made €700 from the deal, and will retain a 10% stake in Aston, which will ensure Ford shares in Aston's recent success, and also ensures that the new owners maintain Aston's access to Ford's technology resources, as well as keeping engine supplies flowing from Ford plants in Bridgend, Wales (V8) and Cologne, Germany (V12). Ford will be looking to re-invest the money into Jaguar, which is currently dragging the Premier Automotive Group's (Land Rover, Jaguar, Volvo and, until now, Aston) profits down at an alarming rate. The cash will be a much-needed boost to Jaguar's engineers as they make the final tweaks to the crucial new XF saloon that replaces the S-Type this autumn. Ford's American bean-counters will doubtless also be happy with a big chunk of money coming in, as well as not having to pay 1,800 salaries at Aston any more.

Ulrich Bez, the current Aston boss will remain in charge of the frim, with David Richards slotting in as a non-executive chairman. Aston, as yet, has not been absorbed into Richards' Prodrive empire, and is unlikely to be for the forseeable future.

Now that the sale is over, Aston Martin can get back to concentrating on new models. It has recently shown new cars like the DBS (a replacement for the Vanquish), V8 Vantage Volante convertible and the Rapide, a stretched 4-door DB9. All three are now likely to make production, with the emphasis being on bringing the crucial V8 Volante to the market. Bez's intention for Aston Martin is to match Bentley's recent 10,000 sales a year success, which is astounding for a company that, just over a decade ago, was building barely 100 cars a year.

It is not anticipated that any staff cuts will be announced, and the price tag includes Aston's state-of-the-art factory in Gaydon, Warwickshire and the old HQ at Newport Pagnell, which will no longer be a factory once Vanquish production finishes, but will remain in place for one-off special vehicles as well as restoration and servicing of older Astons, a lucrative business down the years.

Interstingly, Richards' Prodrive company has a guaranteed place on the 2008 Formula One grid, and is currently establishing a HQ and team roster, and is planning to run customer McLaren-Mercedes chassis and engines. Would anyone care to place bets as to what name the new team might adopt?