Post by Kasey Kagawa
After weeks of uncertainty and rumors of Aston Martin being bought by Jordanian handbag-making multinationalist oil tycoons, the final sale of the storied car company went to a partnership between two Kuwaiti investment groups and Prodrive, the racing company that runs the Aston Martin DBR9 racing cars in American and European GT racing. The company was sold for $925 million, just a little shy of the $1 billion Ford valued the company at. Enthusiasts of the brand, myself included, breathed a sigh of relief at the news, as one of the largest concerns surrounding the sale was that whoever wound up purchasing the company from Ford would ruin what has been done to bring the marque to be one of the most respected luxury brands in the business.
As for the future of the marque, Prodrive has withdrawn their team from the American Le Mans Series for the time being, but they have stated that they will return. The Rapide has been green-lit for production, which will go head-to-head with the Porsche Panamera, and their replacement for the aging V12 Vanquish, the DBS, is almost ready for production. Ulrich Bez has been retained as CEO, and Ford will still hold 8% ownership of the company, which will go some way towards keeping the culture that brought Aston Martin to where it is now alive. Most importantly, their new Kuwaiti owners have some deep pockets, to the tune of more than $5 billion, guaranteeing that Aston Martin will have plenty of capital on hand to continue developing some of the most staggeringly beautiful cars around.
Aston Martin Sold To Kuwaiti Investment Company For $925 Million [Jalopnik]
Rapide leads the way for Aston under new ownership [Autoblog]
Dubspeed Driven Photo Gallery – Aston Martin Rapide [Internal]
