Photo: Aston Martin
If you think of the British auto industry, it's only natural to associate that with poorly built British Leyland cars, workers strikes and failed cottage industry projects like TVR. However a lot of very popular models sold across Europe are made in Britain, including the Honda Civic range as well as most Nissans, especially their best-seller, the Qashqai. Both Rolls-Royce and Bentley are also doing quite well at the top end of market, thanks in part to technical support they are receiving from parent companies from Germany, but the same can't be said about Aston Martin.
The company has had two very visible flops, the Virage sportscar and the Cygnet. The only big bright spot on an otherwise blemished company comes from Mercedes-Benz, the Germans who are going to provide them with one of their AMG engines going into the next generation of the Vantage. But against increasingly stiff competition in a market that's moving more and more towards ultra-luxury SUV, will that be enough?
Fueling (their own) rumors that Mercedes wants to buy Aston Martin, the guys at British magazine Autocar tell us CEO Dieter Zetsche thinks Aston is a fantastic brand, and we are willing to support its further development."
Of course, that statement comes well short of actually confirming a takeover of the super-sportcar maker. But at least it does give us hope that the engine partnership between the two will be expanded to include platform. Like the current V8 Vantage, the next one will like have its engines delivered from Germany. Following the industry trend, this successor is likely to adopt turbocharging.
In December 2012, a company called Investindustrial spent £150 million for a 37.5% take in Aston. That means as a company, Aston's technically worth £400 million or €470 million. To give you an idea of how small Aston is, Mercedes spent over twice that just to make the E-Class facelift. If Mercedes does decide to support the Brits, their first step would likely be to fast-track development of the Lagonda SUV, which as a concept was based on the GL-Class platform.
As a stretch of the imagination, the A-Class or B-Class would also be ripe cherries to pick, as they would give Aston the best chance of making a low-emissions car, potentially even an EV. The Brits desperately need a parent company and some funds. That being said, Mercedes would make a fantastic partner, given their reputation for design, quality and especially engineering large, powerful V8 engines.
Fueling (their own) rumors that Mercedes wants to buy Aston Martin, the guys at British magazine Autocar tell us CEO Dieter Zetsche thinks Aston is a fantastic brand, and we are willing to support its further development."
Of course, that statement comes well short of actually confirming a takeover of the super-sportcar maker. But at least it does give us hope that the engine partnership between the two will be expanded to include platform. Like the current V8 Vantage, the next one will like have its engines delivered from Germany. Following the industry trend, this successor is likely to adopt turbocharging.
In December 2012, a company called Investindustrial spent £150 million for a 37.5% take in Aston. That means as a company, Aston's technically worth £400 million or €470 million. To give you an idea of how small Aston is, Mercedes spent over twice that just to make the E-Class facelift. If Mercedes does decide to support the Brits, their first step would likely be to fast-track development of the Lagonda SUV, which as a concept was based on the GL-Class platform.
As a stretch of the imagination, the A-Class or B-Class would also be ripe cherries to pick, as they would give Aston the best chance of making a low-emissions car, potentially even an EV. The Brits desperately need a parent company and some funds. That being said, Mercedes would make a fantastic partner, given their reputation for design, quality and especially engineering large, powerful V8 engines.
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