A Match Made In Heaven

[Pericles]

Though we've had false alarms about the pending sale of Aston Martin before, it now seems as though there may again be a front-runner. Sports racing firm Prodrive, which currently runs the Aston Martin racing team, has been identified by TimesOnline as the leading bidder of the famed British marque. Prodrive's alleged bid of £450 million (USD $875,385,000) would be a big chunk of change for an ultra niche sports car maker like Aston.

Prodrive founder David Richards still needs to secure funding for the potential purchase since British private equity group Apax would not be a participant even though it owns 49% of Prodrive. Ford is already late in announcing an auction winner since it said it would reveal a winner by the end of February.

(Source: TimesOnline)

http://motorsports.autoblog.com/2007/03/05...r-aston-martin/

[Devinda_Z]

its good if Pro Drive get it - they've ben steadily growing from a race team/tuner to a manufacturer of sorts with é advent of é P2 & é like..

they've already done a Rally Version of é DB9 as well in é form of é Aston Martin Rally GT

é synergy between one of good olé Britains traditional marques & this new breed of tuner should be awesome!!!

Edited May 24, 2008 by Devinda_Z

[mazdaspeed]

its good if Pro Drive get it - they've ben steadily growing from a race team/tuner to a manufacturer of sorts with é advent of é P2 & é like..

they've already done a Rally Version of é DB9 as well in é form of é Aston Martin Rally GT

é synergy between one of good olé Britons traditional marques & this new breed of tuner should be awesome!!!

dam she looks hot ...... l ove the grill..... ya.. this would be nice to see it happening.....

[GTAm]

IMHO Prodrive will cock it all up. Firstly they have not experience in actually manufacturing cars. Second they can't afford 500 million pounds. They'll put unnecessary pressure on their financial status and might weaken their existing business which is very successful.

What happens when the current engines come to the end of their life cycle? Do you think a small company like Prodrive will have funds to develop brand new engines? I doubt. You need huge budgets to develop new tech.

What might work is for Ford to retain 51% or more and sell a minority stake to Prodrive. If Aston wants to survive they have to be with a large, rich manufacturer.

It's crazy that after so many years of losses and several bankruptcies Aston is finally profitable, has got their products right and Ford has to sell it!

[Devinda_Z]

What might work is for Ford to retain 51% or more and sell a minority stake to Prodrive. If Aston wants to survive they have to be with a large, rich manufacturer.

...i fear that i my have been a tad short sighted in this regard...

GTAm u have very very valid point - & yes if Ford at least has a small stake Aston may still be able to have access to é Jag Engines which will relive a great burden as u so rightly pointed out in terms of engine development

but as for large & rich , none of é Big Three make that list anymore so its doubtful that VW will want it when they have Bugati & Fiat either with Ferrari n Masser

so i dread to think it - but do u recon any of é Jap's will show an interest?

[GTAm]

GTAm u have very very valid point - & yes if Ford at least has a small stake Aston may still be able to have access to é Jag Engines which will relive a great burden as u so rightly pointed out in terms of engine development

but as for large & rich , none of é Big Three make that list anymore so its doubtful that VW will want it when they have Bugati & Fiat either with Ferrari n Masser

so i dread to think it - but do u recon any of é Jap's will show an interest?

I think that's the best way. Jag/Aston/LR is such a nice fit. All 3 Brit and common platforms and engines will suit them. If I was FoMoCo CEO I'd off load Volvo. Volvo would be an ideal stepping stone for PSA who need to get into the US mkt where Volvo is established.

VW just took 51% of Proton and Porsche is likely to take control of VW. So they would not want Aston in there. They're already not happy with Lambo being in the group. However Dr. Pieche still weilds his power and he's a known megalomainiac so anything is possible.

Fiat is just getting off the sick bed so it in no position to fork out a billion dollars.

Japs - It's only Honda and Toyota who are really cash rich but it's quite unlikely that they'll be interested. Toyota Maybe but Honda very unlikely.

[isurujosh]

IMHO Prodrive will cock it all up. Firstly they have not experience in actually manufacturing cars. Second they can't afford 500 million pounds. They'll put unnecessary pressure on their financial status and might weaken their existing business which is very successful.

What happens when the current engines come to the end of their life cycle? Do you think a small company like Prodrive will have funds to develop brand new engines? I doubt. You need huge budgets to develop new tech.

What might work is for Ford to retain 51% or more and sell a minority stake to Prodrive. If Aston wants to survive they have to be with a large, rich manufacturer.

It's crazy that after so many years of losses and several bankruptcies Aston is finally profitable, has got their products right and Ford has to sell it!

indeed! i also think that itz not a Match Made In Heaven ... i guess ford only wants to sell aston to find cash to restrcture US operations which are in a very dangerous state right now... bdw i have seen in FORBES articles that volve can't either be sold w/out consequences... lotz parts are being shared with Volvo's I guess... if my memory serves right, FORBES concluded that Aston is the best to sell considering the main objective is to save Ford's US operations.

[GTAm]

indeed! i also think that itz not a Match Made In Heaven ... i guess ford only wants to sell aston to find cash to restrcture US operations which are in a very dangerous state right now... bdw i have seen in FORBES articles that volve can't either be sold w/out consequences... lotz parts are being shared with Volvo's I guess... if my memory serves right, FORBES concluded that Aston is the best to sell considering the main objective is to save Ford's US operations.

An Financial analysis institution like Forbes have industry analysts for sure. But they what they do not have is "CAR GUYS"!. And you need a good balance of a CAR GUY and a hard nosed business/financial guy to run a successful car company.

For example all financial institutions said it would be financial scuiscide when Renault bought Nissan. Nissan was riddled with mega debt and they predicted that it'll take Renault down as well. But look at Nissan today, they even considered taking a stake in GM a month back!!

You can't have a CAR guy alone as well. Look at what Jac Nasser did to FoMoCo. He got out brilliant products i.e. the Focus 1, Mondeo etc. but still got the company is in dire straits.

On the other hand Fiat Spa was going bust early last year and they are full of car guys, probably too many. So all they needed was their current Chairman who top manager and now they are the fastest growing brand in Europe, and making profits!

So it's a Car fanatic/Financial whizz combo that should be what's needed!!

[Devinda_Z]

The powder blue and orange livery, the 'disc' logo, the crisp, timeless type-face... for some strange reason, it's a graphic combination that hard-wires you straight into the heart of motor racing's main-frame.

Source : Top Gear

[Devinda_Z]

Its been 40 years since Gulf Racings first win.....here's hoping they get a chance to celebrate in style long with Aston Martin by its side this time

its no GT40,i'll concede that , but you must admit , it looks the business

[GuruG]

Too much lipstick

[kotte mafia]

gulf , prodrive ,astin team up uff some thing nice ..... and the cars look even more sexy after a touch from prodrive ..hope to see much more of astins new look soon astin it's my fav brand by the way

[Pericles]

gulf , prodrive ,astin team up uff some thing nice ..... and the cars look even more sexy after a touch from prodrive ..hope to see much more of astins new look soon astin it's my fav brand by the way

If its your favorite brand, you should at least respect it enough to learn how to spell its name properly. Typos are one thing, but "astin"?

[kotte mafia]

heh heh peri u kw i always encounter this prob cos i never really tamed the english language beast ... what to do man never went to school ....

[Pericles]

heh heh peri u kw i always encounter this prob cos i never really tamed the english language beast ... what to do man never went to school ....

You don't have to go to school to realize that that so many people through the whole thread have been saying "Aston". Its understandable if you don't know, but not when its written all over the page. Thats not lack of knowledge or a typo, since it is repeated thrice. It is not "cool" to deliberately mis-spell things.

Besides, I wasn't critiquing ur English. I was critiquing ur lack of respect on something you so readily tag a favorite. Language skills have nothing to do with persistently calling Aston "astin"

[GTAm]

Could the Kuwaitis be calling it "Astin Marton"?

[Ripper]

heh heh peri u kw i always encounter this prob cos i never really tamed the english language beast ... what to do man never went to school ....

well at least you're going to graphics and 3D classes right?