Ford sells Aston Martin

THE Ford Motor Co has announced that it will sell Aston Martin to a consortium led by Prodrive founder and chairman and British motor racing legend-cum-businessman David Richards for £479 million – around $A1.2 billion.

Among the investors are two Kuwait-based Islamic investment companies Adeem Investment and Investment Dar.

Ford, which took a controlling stake in Aston Martin in 1987 and acquired full ownership in 1994, will hold on to a 15 per cent share of the profitable Aston Martin business when the deal closes in the next month or so.

"The sale of Aston Martin supports the key objectives of the company: to restructure to operate profitably at lower volumes and changed model mix and to speed the development of new products," Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement.

"From Aston Martin’s point of view, the sale will provide access to additional capital, which will allow Aston Martin to continue the growth it has experienced under Ford’s stewardship. Today’s announcement is good for Ford Motor Company, good for Aston Martin and good for the UK." Aston Martin’s Asia Pacific regional manager Henning Rosted told GoAuto on March 2: "We have grown significantly as a company over the last five years and are now at a stage where we need to move on to the next stage in our growth phase.

"It (the change in ownership) will not (alter the direction of the company). We all feel very comfortable, our dealers feel very comfortable with the direction we have taken over the last couple of years and we’re clearly a very successful brand now. And there’s no reason why that will change.

"Often when there is talk of companies being sold off it’s usually because the company is in trouble. It is the exact opposite situation with Aston Martin," he said, adding that forthcoming vehicles built off the new VH (Vertical/Horizontal) architecture would not be jeopardised.

"With the VH architecture, we have actually made ourselves fairly independent from the rest of the (Ford) group. We are not using a Ford, or another (Premier Automotive) Group company platform.

"We’re building our own engines by Aston Martin technicians, we have our own new plant in Gaydon, England, so the last five years has really put us in a position to function as a very independent entity within a larger group. So whether that entity now actually belongs to Ford, or does not, it doesn’t really make any difference." Mr Rosted said Aston Martin sales would continue to rise in Australia, although it would not double volume in 2007 like it did last year when it sold 111 vehicles compared to 58 in 2005.

He nominated 150 as the anticipated number, with the V8 Vantage Roadster unveiled at the Melbourne International Motor Show accounting for most of the gain.

Further afield, the DB9-based DBS "Bond car" – orders for which are now being taken – will be launched in Australia in around 12 months’ time.

A four-door coupe/sedan based on the Rapide concept is also in the works.