Friday 29th October 2004

Aston opens first dedicated engine plant

German site will see 5,000 cars a year, says AM

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Aston Martin yesterday opened its first-ever dedicated engine plant in Cologne at a ceremony attended by local dignitaries. All engines for the Aston Martin range – Vanquish S, DB9 and V8 Vantage (due for launch in mid-2005) -- will now be produced at this new plant.

AM reckons the opening of this new facility underlines its intentions for growth, the company planning to ramp up to a rate of 5,000 cars a year by the end of 2005. It is also the first time that Aston Martin has had a purpose-built engine production facility.

Located in a separate building at Ford’s Niehl Engine Plant, the Aston Martin Engine Plant (AMEP) is equipped to work solely on Aston Martin engines, and is staffed by a total of 100 specially trained Aston Martin personnel, who have been undertaking a six-month training course since the initial plans to open the building were finalised.

AM boss Dr Ulrich Bez said, “The new plant will allow us to have greater flexibility than ever before. One of the virtues of our company is being able to react quickly to what our customers want. We now have control of the production of our engines, so can consider doing smaller runs of special high performance versions.

“We have just successfully launched two models this year – the DB9 and last month at the Paris Motor Show, a more powerful version of the Vanquish – the Vanquish S.  With the V8 Vantage due next year the time is absolutely right to bring our engine production back in-house.”

The layout of AMEP consists of a 12,500 square metre production hall, which has sufficient capacity to support Aston Martin’s requirements today and in the future. The facility broadly comprises four distinct areas; one to machine engine cylinder blocks, one to machine cylinder heads, one to assemble all engine components and one area for goods receiving and engine shipment. All engine testing is completed within the assembly process and unlike normal engine production, both cold and hot tests are completed concurrently on all engines.

The facility is capable of machining and assembling V8 and V12 engines simultaneously.  Each technician will build a complete engine from start to finish – at full production more than 30 technicians will be building engines. 

Built in compliance to ISO 14001 environmental regulations, the facility also benefits from state-of-the-art features including an adaptive lighting system that automatically adjusts according to the level of available daylight. Additionally all of the equipment used within the facility has been specifically chosen not to exceed a noise level of 77 db(A), aiding a pleasant working environment.

Links:

Aston Martin: www.astonmartin.com/

AM Owners Club: www.amoc.org/

[PetrolTed]

Shame they couldn't see their way to building these in the UK

[shadytree]

nice colour parked outside

[Marki]

PetrolTed said:

Shame they couldn't see their way to building these in the UK

Where would the casting of blocks and heads be done ?

Maybe Germany

[Cobstar]

PetrolTed said:

Shame they couldn't see their way to building these in the UK

Totally agree. Begs the question when is a British car not a British car?

That said I think the DB9 is one of the most gorgeous cars ever. Sure I'm not the only one to have seen the Top Gear review and decided that one day, maybe one day, I'll be able to own one ...

Shadytree, you're obviously totally besotted with his car - unsurprisingly. And yes it does look stunning in that colour. So next time you're in West Kent let me know so that I can come and gaze longingly at your beautiful car.

[lanciachris]

5000 cars a year? I didnt think aston even came close to building that many. Maybe they are counting if the same car comes back for a rebuild j/k

[Marki]

lanciachris said:

5000 cars a year? I didnt think aston even came close to building that many. Maybe they are counting if the same car comes back for a rebuild j/k

No thats TVR

[Twin Turbo]

I agree, it's a pity they're not built in Blighty.

Still, it's good to see AM going from strength to strenght.

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Could be cynical here and say it is a Ford engine plant, hence Germany...

[cdp]

To think, Ford are currently selling Cosworth who could have built the engines in the UK.

[Andrew Noakes]

Ford are selling Cosworth Racing. I doubt CR has the production capacity to build 5000 engines a year.

Until now the Aston V12s have been built by (Audi-owned) Cosworth Technology at Wellingborough.

[Pesmo]

So will they be maintaining the Aston tradition of each engine having a little plate that identified the mechanic that built it at the factory ? Willi Schmidt, Helmut Neumann, Hans Gross............. it just won't seem quite the same

[b10]

This is what happens in the long term when you sell a company abroad. It makes perfect semse for Ford to do this. If the company were still British owned, and it did this, it would be less significant because the intelectual rights, ownership and taxes would still reside in the UK.

God help the BBC and Top Gear for their biased reporting MG Rovers recent reduction in losses - much lower that when BMW were in charge. They and other media have done more than most to reduce MGR's sales

[williamp]

Well the straight six used in the DB4/5/6/S/AM Vantage AND the V8 engine was designed by a pole called Tadek Marek, and the most desirable of all road going Astons, the DB4 GT Zagato had their bodies built in Italy.

So is it OK for a car to have parts assembled in Italy but not Germany?? In my opinion this doesnt matter.

[kenmorton]

For the accountants who run all big firms its just a question of economics.

[cerbman]

Part of buying an Aston is its Britishness, not much of that left. American owned, run by a German and now he's letting the engines be made in his country too, what next?