And the new owner of Aston Martin is...

[BlueGoblin]

... Prodrive!

Or more specifically, a UK based, Prodrive led consortium that includes Kuwaiti Investment firms.

Somehow, I feel a bit better about the potential future of Aston in the hands of the Prodrive guys rather than Louis Vuitton as rumoured earlier in the year.

Should be interesting to see where the company goes from here.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6442101.stm

[iceburns288]

Great combination. Prodrive has been building the Aston Martin race cars for the past few years, and also a tuned version of the AMV8 Vantage. I see a lot more factory race cars coming soon:drool:

[Canmorite]

That's awesome! Good for them...

[tentacles]

Mofuggas outbid me at the last moment! Whatever, they can have it. ;)

[TorqueDog]

When I heard the possibility of a frog owning Aston Martin, I could just picture Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear offing himself with a pistol.

To have one of Britain's most distinguished car makers owned by a French guy would have drove him to madness.

[schocker]

This is good news. I would much rather see a reputable racing team on them compared to LV.

[M_Power]

wow, aston should be in good hands with prodrive now

Press Release from Prodrive Site (http://www.prodrive.com/p_releases.html?id=98)

[hjr]

should be a good combination. maybe now they will find a way to make the car lighter, haha. did ford ever make money with aston?

[A2VR6]

Originally posted by hjr
should be a good combination. maybe now they will find a way to make the car lighter, haha. did ford ever make money with aston?

Yes, I believe aston was actually one of their more profitable marques if im not mistaken.

[hjr]

interesting. seems a smart play by ford all the same. less hassles and whatnot, and an influx of cash when they need it most

[buh_buh]

wow, first getting into f1, and now this.
Prodrive is doing good for themselves. :thumbsup:

[sneek]

ProDrive is awesome!

[BigMass]

Originally posted by A2VR6


Yes, I believe aston was actually one of their more profitable marques if im not mistaken.

if i'm not mistaken, it was actually their ONLY profitable marque

[Billy2]

^^, yep, that's right, Aston was the only profitable segment of ford before they sold it. Still, Prodrive should make the brand a bit more interesting than before. I wonder when they are going to sell the Jag brand.

[CKY]

I hope the Prodrive F1 car for Aston Martin isn't gonna be in the British racing green. As much of a classic as that color is, it's just so damn old

[iceburns288]

Originally posted by hjr
interesting. seems a smart play by ford all the same. less hassles and whatnot, and an influx of cash when they need it most
Yeah, selling it when it's profitable means they will get a good price for it, and they did.

[scat19]

good move for prodrive

[dino_martini]

Im glad Prodrive bought Aston Martin, but I wish I could have bought Aston Martin...hopefully they keep the same designer onboard, the DB9, Vanquish and AM V8 Vantage look great!

[Zephyr]

Going to be good for AM performance wise, but I have a feeling interior design is going to suffer

[sneek]

Originally posted by Billy2
^^, yep, that's right, Aston was the only profitable segment of ford before they sold it. Still, Prodrive should make the brand a bit more interesting than before. I wonder when they are going to sell the Jag brand.

I though Volvo was doing okay too.

[CKY]

hmmm, seems like Aston Martin won't be joining F1 anytime soon

[brownchild]

good move for ford, and prodrive.