ASTONMARTIN line up

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury performance cars, whose headquarters are at Gaydon, Warwickshire, England. The company name is derived from the Aston Clinton hill climb and one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin.

From 1994 until 2007 Aston Martin was part of the Premier Automotive Group, a division of the Ford Motor Company. On 12 March 2007, it was purchased for £479 million (US$848 million) by two Kuwaiti investment companies in a deal led by David Richards of Prodrive. Ford retained a US$77 million stake in Aston Martin, setting the total value of the company at US$925 million.

 Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London where they also serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles. The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta-Fraschini. They acquired premises at Henniker Place in Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of the outbreak of World War I, and Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford the Royal Army Service Corps. All machinery was sold to the Sopwith Aviation Company.

In light of mounting financial pressure, and after internal review of costs and realisable value on investment, Ford decided to look at selling parts of its Premium Automotive Group. After suggestions of selling Jaguar Cars, Land Rover or Volvo Cars, Ford appointed UBS AG to sell Aston Martin by auction. At the end of August 2006, Ford announced that it would be willing to sell all or part of Aston Martin. Bill Ford said: "As part of our on going strategic review, we have determined that Aston Martin may be an attractive opportunity to raise capital and generate value".

The first round of the auction closed on 30 November 2006.  One of the four survivors was Syrian-born billionaire Simon Halabi, while the Australian bid included James Packer, Australia's second richest man. The German auto newspaper Autobild reported on 2 February 2007 that the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH had bought the company for an undisclosed sum. The paper cited "anonymous, but well-placed sources" with the information. It was later reported by Autocar magazine that LVMH had denied the news as "rubbish".

On 12 March 2007 a consortium led by Prodrive chairman David Richards purchased Aston Martin for £475m/USD$848m. Prodrive has no financial involvement in the deal.^[ Ford will keep a stake in the company (valued at GBP 40 million / USD 70 million). The consortium also consisted of John Sinders, an Aston Martin collector; and two Kuwaiti investment companies, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co.

On 19 July 2007 the last car, a Vanquish S, was produced at the Newport Pagnell plant. Nearly 13,000 cars had been made there since 1955. All production was concentrated at Gaydon, with the old premises in Tickford Road remaining in Aston Martin ownership as the restoration and service department.

Aston Martin has also boosted its worldwide appeal by opening more dealers in Europe, as well as branches in China for the first time in its 93 year history in Beijing and Shanghai. This has brought their dealership programme to 120 dealers in 28 countries.


V8 Vantage/V8 Vantage Roadster

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage is a hand built sports car from British manufacturer Aston Martin. Aston Martin has previously used the "Vantage" name on high performance variants of their existing GT models, notably on the Virage-based supercar of the 1990s. The modern car, in contrast, is the leanest and most agile car in Aston's three-model lineup. As such, it is intended as a more accessible model to compete with cars such as the Porsche 911.

 

At the 2006 Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, Aston Martin officially unveiled the V8 Vantage Roadster. The car gains 200 pounds over the coupe, but Aston Martin claims the car will have the same performance as the coupe. To compensate for the loss of the roof a new, super-stiff cross-member has been added to the frame. The soft top can be raised or lowered electronically in 18 seconds and can be operated in speeds up to 30 mph (50 km/h). It has the same 4.3 litre V8 from the hard top version producing 380 bhp (283 kW) at 7000 rpm, 302 lb-ft (410 Nm) at 5000 rpm & a top speed of 175 mph (280 km/h). It will accelerate from 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h) in 4.9 seconds.

DB9/DB9 Volante

The Aston Martin DB9 is a grand tourer launched by Aston Martin in 2004.

The DB9 is the first new car to be built at Aston's Gaydon facility. The name "DB" stems from David Brown, the owner of Aston Martin for a sizeable part of its history. The DB9, which was designed by Ian Callum and finished by his successor, Henrik Fisker, superseded the now-discontinued Aston Martin DB7 (also by Callum) which started production in 1994.

 

The Aston Martin DB9 Volante is the convertible version of the DB9 coupe. It is built by hand in limited numbers and has enhanced styling. It is powered by the same 5.9 liter, DOHC 48 valve V12 as the DB9 and is completed with 450 bhp (331 kW) and a top speed of 186 mph (300 km/h). Because it is a convertible it will do 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds, two-tenths of a second slower than the hard top. The Volante is taller than the hardtop, standing at 51.2 inches (1,300 mm) compared to 50.1 inches (1,270 mm). The transmission options are either the 6 speed manual or the 6 speed TipTronic II automatic.

DBS

The modern Aston Martin DBS is a high performance sports car from the UK manufacturer Aston Martin. Aston has used the DBS name once before on their 1967-72 grand tourer coupe. The modern car replaces the Vanquish S as the flagship of the marque.

The DBS was first seen in the 2006 film Casino Royale. It was officially unveiled at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance sporting a brand new exterior color, a graphite gray with a blue tint which has been dubbed 'Casino Ice'. The two seater coupé (as opposed to the 2+2 DB9 which the car is based on) has a bonded aluminium chassis made of lightweight magnesium alloy, carbon fibre composite and aluminium. It is the first production Aston Martin to make extensive use of carbon-fibre body panels.

Power comes from the heavily revised handmade 6.0 litre V12 engine from the DBR9 racing car, tuned to deliver 510 bhp (380 kW) at 6500 rpm and 420 lb·ft (569 N·m) of torque at 5750 rpm. The V12 power plant features a new by-pass air intake port that opens above 5500 rpm to boost engine breathing as well as re-profiled air inlet ports that further improve airflow into the combustion chamber. A curb weight of 3750 pounds (1695 kg), combined with the 510 bhp (380 kW) V12 help the DBS accelerate 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.3 seconds and reach a top speed of 191 mph (307 km/h).

The DBS is fitted with new vented carbon ceramic brakes discs – a first for a road-going Aston Martin, it which reduces unsprung weight by 12.5 kg. The front wheels are fitted with 398 mm (15.7 in) diameter carbon ceramic brakes with six-piston calipers, with 360 mm (14.2 in) diameter brakes with four-piston calipers at the rear. The double wishbone alloy suspension features an adaptive damper controlled suspension which uses two separate valves to set the dampers to five different positions, allowing instant adjustment of the car’s ride and handling characteristics.

Also included is a new hand finished interior with black lacquer, brushed alloy, semi-aniline leather and Alcantara as some of the materials. The car comes with a six speed manual transmission standard and is expected to retail for approximately $265,000 USD. Sales are expected to start in spring of 2008.

On the 22nd of January 2008 spy photos of the Aston Martin DBS Volante appeared on the internet .


Future - Rapide

The Aston Martin Rapide is a four-door, four-seat coupe, which British luxury marque Aston Martin plans to introduce in late 2009 to compete with the Porsche Panamera, Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class and Maserati Quattroporte. It was first presented as a concept car at the North American International Auto Show in 2006. The Rapide name is a reference to the Lagonda Rapide, a sedan produced by Lagonda, now part of Aston Martin. The car is based on a Aston Martin DB9.

Since the purchase of Aston Martin by a British consortium led by David Richards of Prodrive, production of the Rapide has been confirmed and progress is being made to quicken the release date.