Aston officially on the block?

Aston Martin is for sale: its owner Ford is considering its options for the Warwickshire supercar manufacturer, with ‘particular emphasis on a potential sale’.

It had been thought that the American giant was to dispose of troubled Jaguar, but the nature of Aston’s high performance three-car range and its dealer network means it has very few synergies with other Ford brands.
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atomicbri - 8/31/2006 11:35:52 AM

+2 Boost

This might be a good thing for Aston if the right buyer comes along (BMW are you interested?? LOL) cause Ford may drag it down into its gutter if they can't get their act together.

TimE - 8/31/2006 1:56:42 PM

+1 Boost

Rumour #1: BMW Group is interested in Aston Martin brand which will finally fill the gap between BMW and Rolls-Royce brand (the role that was initially reserved for Bentley - which then ended in VW's portfolio).

Rumour #2: LVMH Group is also interested to have AM brand in their brand portfolio - despite LVMH having no previous automotive industry experiences.

M53R - 8/31/2006 3:38:52 PM

+2 Boost

yea bmw will do it ryt

matt635 - 8/31/2006 6:57:27 PM

+1 Boost

It would certainly be interesting to see BMW with Aston Martin on-board. It would make sense as BMW seem to always lack and uber-cars over the £100,000 mark. And a very sporty Rolls is very unlikely.

.. that said - I can't see it happening.

TimE - 8/31/2006 8:33:45 PM

+1 Boost

efoxS4 - I know what happened with RR Motors and all the following situation.

But BMW approached to Vickers in early 90's - and Vickers declined to sell RR Motors to BMW. So in 1998 Vickers finally put RRM on auction, and in the end VAG won offering higher bid - but BMW were sneaky and got the RR logo & naame rights from aero engine maker Rolls-Royce Plc who owned the rights.

Then BMW wanted to purchase RR Motors (RR & Bentley) from VAG, but VW CEO Pischetsrieder (fired ex-CEO of BMW AG) refused to do that, so the final deal was RR went to BMW with 1/1/2003, while Bentley stayed at VAG.

Btw, if RR stayed at VAG it would look like rebadged Bentley (or vice versa).

Rupert - 9/1/2006 2:05:56 PM

+1 Boost

nissan renault is fairly interested in it.

Rupert - 9/4/2006 6:04:07 PM

+1 Boost

also 1995, renault nissan was always very interested in jaguar, so it may settle for the back-up plan. it would like them all though, to have it's own premium section. that would show it was a proper player in the market.
renault has flair with design, it wouldn't ruin aston at all. imagine a hark back to the glory days of bugatti (yes it was french) and facel vega, both very avantgarde high end cars.
art deco could be a theme.

330CabrioJWN - 9/15/2006 12:57:11 PM

+1 Boost

The fit with BMW would be perfect. As diablo69 aludes, no other manufacturer makes sense.

The marketing/dealership fit with RR is perfect. BMW needs a premium-exotic sports car line and certainly have a lot too contribute too, I could see an Aston Martin with a supercharged version of the V-10 used in the M5/6.

Aston is too upscale to align with Toyota or Lexus. I would not see a Lexus owner buying a Aston Martin. But, I bet there are a number of Aston owners who have BMWs too.

If you were a loyal wealthy satisfied M5 owner and looking for a premium sports car, what would you buy...probably a Porsche Turbo, but what if Aston was owned by BMW...you would probably be thinking about a Vantage or a DB9.