Friday 9th March 2007

Prodrive to buy Aston Martin?

Almost - announcement is due later today

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AM V8 Vantage by Prodrive

Prodrive has bought Aston Martin -- it just hasn't been announced yet.

Industry veteran Dave Richards, in concord with a consortium of businesses from the USA and Middle East, is just hours away from tying up the loose ends of the purchase of the iconic British marque from Ford, according to Autocar.

A number of bidders were in the ring to win the hand of Aston Martin, figuring it would add a halo effect to their merchandise, the Louis Vuitton group among them. But according to the report, Ford wanted AM to stay with a carmaker.

And Prodrive has previous with AM, not least its recent execution of Aston Martin's GT racing programme, and its development of a tauter V8 Vantage (see link below). This all made sense to Ford, according to the report.

Those close to the sale said that Prodrive's inside knowledge was the deal clincher.

One source within AM is said to have commented: "It's a done deal. All that remains is to cross the t's and dot the i's." Officially, Aston Martin is saying only that a deal will be sooner rather than later.

Related stories

• Aston bidding gets messy
• Bidding for Aston closes today
• Prodrive boosts AM Vantage V8

[japes]

Sounds like a great marriage to me...and glad it's back in, partly, British hands.
Let's hope they have the resources to develop the Rapide ( maybe Ford will help them to get that off the ground as part of the deal ) and that the present management is kept in place.

[redlake27]

..........and rebrand the Prodrive F1 project as Aston Martin?

[Duke Thrust]

This could be fantastic!

[runnersp]

I really hope that this is good news for Aston. But IMHO it will be hard to replicate the success Aston has had in recent years in terms of sales.

[MarkoTVR]

Hell yeah!! Let's hope this turns out to be as good as it sounds!!! Shame Prodrive couldn't have picked up TVR too....

[ettore]

I hope that this is true, it is a big ask of the Prodrive organisation but I have a huge degree of respect for what David Richards has achieved. Business is business but this "feels" right.

[richards 7]

Lets hope they have loads of cash left from the purchase to finance new models. plus a continued tie in with ford for supply of parts etc will be crucial. Lets not forget the debacle of rover. Company bought for £10 but no cash for new models. They soldiered on for a few years and the rest is history.
Despite this I hope they do well and continue to bring us fresh modern pwerful GT cars, if they can then they will be safe, Good luck to them all.

[E4UAN]

I think this is a great deal, hopefully Aston can continue forward in the way they have been with the support and knowledge of Prodrive. Good luck to the company.

[rmhodv]

Let's hope so. Great news.

[lynxd67]

Just posted on the net

Ford closes in on Aston Martin sale
08 Mar 2007
Ford is reportedly close to selling Aston Martin after identifying the consortium headed by motor racing company Pro Drive as its preferred bidder. Ford values the luxury marque at up to £500m and it is understood the British-based consortium is close to matching the US carmaker’s valuation. Pro Drive is set to become Formula 1’s 12th racing team next season and already runs Aston Martin’s sports car racing programme, which may have swayed Ford’s decision.

[peter450]

would be nice to see an Aston F1 car

[atl]

The only worry is that with Prodrive entering Formula One, all their resources and time will be focused on that and not on developing new road models. Could they be buying Aston mainly to use the name and its associated heritage for their Formula One team?

[dickieandjulie]

Like the sound of that. I believe Dave Richards and Prodrive are a class outfit.

[mat205125]

Prodrive will do a fine job in running and developing the cars that are currently in production, however will lack the capital to develop future replacement models required 5-8 years down the line.

The cars will become old hat, build numbers will fall, and the company will be in the st again.

Buzz! Pesamist mode off!

[MrKipling43]

I think what people are missing is that it isn't Prodrive who are buying Aston, it's Dave Richards and friends. Aston won't become part of Prodrive or vice versa, it just guarantees that Richards can use their name on the Prodrive F1 cars with, I guess, Cossie V8's branded as Aston Martin.

Aston Martin won't actually need to spend any time concentrating on the F1 development - they're just a name to attach to the car/engine.

[MidnightDriver]

Bravo, finally a take over of an iconic british car company which seems to have a bright future, usually its always a case of impending doom and gloom when some 1 buys a sports car company. Prodrive have the knowledge and resources to make this a success story. i wish them all the best, Aston martin should be run buy a respected racecar company and not a luxury handbag maker!! Jus hope they keep Dr B.
As for Aston martin F1 .bring it on, i jus wish TVR had a simular fate.....

[sdw2003]

redlake27 said:

..........and rebrand the Prodrive F1 project as Aston Martin?

Aston's heritage is in sports cars, not F1. It would be a huge mistake to bring AM into F1. The business is making money and that would soon change of it walked into the merky world of F1

[MrKipling43]

sdw2003 said:

redlake27 said:

..........and rebrand the Prodrive F1 project as Aston Martin?

Aston's heritage is in sports cars, not F1. It would be a huge mistake to bring AM into F1. The business is making money and that would soon change of it walked into the merky world of F1

ASTON MARTIN WILL NOT BE GOING INTO F1!

Come on guys, pay attention... Aston Martin will only be there in name, not in cash. The engines will blatantly be Cossie V8s, the chassis will probably be a McLaren and the team will be run entirely by Prodrive.

Prodrive are not buying Aston, David Richards is.

Edited by MrKipling43 on Friday 9th March 11:22

[mark1]

Kipling is the only one who seems to actually appreciate what is taking place.....

AML will operate as normal as will Prodrive.

It is a branding / halo thing, pure and simple.

[matg]

[quote]
Prodrive are not buying Aston, David Richards is.
[/quote]

Thats what I heard, nowt to do with ProDrive