Friday 24th October 2008
Aston Martin Lagondas get the Benz
Aston and Merc join forces
DBS to have Mercedes twin-turbo V12 power
Future Aston Martin models seem destined to share powertrain technology with Mercedes-Benz and Maybach as news of a €300 million deal comes to light.
The emerging story follows hard on the heels of news that Mercedes and BMW could begin co-operating on engine technology.
According to reports, a tie-up between the two luxury marques has been masterminded by Aston’s German chairman Dr Ulrich Bez, and Daimler’s chief Dieter Zetsche – and it’s possible the deal could even see Daimler taking a stake in the AML business.
According to the story revealed exclusively by CAR magazine the collaboration will start with Mercedes supplying its twin-turbo V12 for use in the DB9 and DBS – both models are currently powered by Ford.
In return, Aston is likely to provide much of the engineering and design talent for the next generation Maybach saloon, which itself will share a platform and drivetrains with a new range of Lagonda luxury models in the pipeline – including hybrid variants.
AML reportedly has four Lagonda models in its product plan for the next decade, including a saloon car, a four-seat coupe and cabriolet, and even (shudder) a 4x4.
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pagani1
Original Poster
466 posts
71 months
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Mr Horacio Pagani and Ron Dennis at McLaren will be pleased. Fabulous engines nonetheless and Aston have a good deal especially if Mercedes want to invest in Aston. My dream car would be a DB9 with V12AMG aboard.-Yes please daddy.
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chazwozza
270 posts
55 months
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WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aston and Merc???? No.
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Maxmpg
53 posts
76 months
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I can only see this as a clever move by AML. Engines for existing models and shared platforms for future models. Makes a lot of sense.
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gumsie
515 posts
78 months
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chazwozza said: WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aston and Merc???? No. Because??
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Zod
23,367 posts
127 months
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"According to the story revealed exclusively by CAR magazine" Don't believe a word of this until you see it printed by a publication that has not w  ed away its credibility.
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tomTVR
6,909 posts
110 months
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gumsie said: chazwozza said: WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aston and Merc???? No. Because?? Because it would be nice to have at a British luxury car making that doesnt use German engines?
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12joe340
417 posts
64 months
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+1 even tho its not entirely english already
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steve_amv8
1,144 posts
79 months
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tomTVR said: gumsie said: chazwozza said: WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aston and Merc???? No. Because?? Because it would be nice to have at a British luxury car making that doesnt use German engines? I assume you do know where the current engines are built? 
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tomTVR
6,909 posts
110 months
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steve_amv8 said: tomTVR said: gumsie said: chazwozza said: WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aston and Merc???? No. Because?? Because it would be nice to have at a British luxury car making that doesnt use German engines? I assume you do know where the current engines are built?  Not really a German engine though, in the same way a Z4 isnt an American car.
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clorenzen
1,844 posts
104 months
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AML needs to survive - this might help them.
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aeropilot
7,005 posts
96 months
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tomTVR said: steve_amv8 said: tomTVR said: gumsie said: chazwozza said: WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aston and Merc???? No. Because?? Because it would be nice to have at a British luxury car making that doesnt use German engines? I assume you do know where the current engines are built? Not really a German engine though, in the same way a Z4 isnt an American car. And the Ford-Cologne V12 isn't used in any other application, so is effectively 'bespoke' Aston-Martin.....as per a Savile Row suit....rather than an off the peg one....as would the MB unit, no matter how good it is. Sadly......this is the way of the world......it's all about percieved 'image' rather than anything else. Sad day for the Aston IMHO, if true.
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buddhabelly
1,152 posts
79 months
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"AML reportedly has four Lagonda models in its product plan for the next decade, including a saloon car, a four-seat coupe and cabriolet, and even (shudder) a 4x4."
lots of models and special editions coming out of AML. Not sure this is the right way to go: special editions are a "cashing-in" exercise, but their downside is that they soak up resources and time, which you would think could be better utilised. Now I am sure the Lagonda business plan shows lots of sales and profits, but it seems a bit of a "machine gun" approach, lets steals sales from ferrari, bentley, porsche and bmw etc.
VAG with hefty balance sheet and different brands makes sense, Aston trying to do it all ... not convinced.
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Matt_
114 posts
58 months
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Where is the Lagonda range going to fit into this? Is it going to be priced to go up against Merc, Audi & BMW?
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dpbird90
5,119 posts
59 months
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Nooooo! Fair enough, the AMG V12 is great, but what about the amazing noise the current engines make?
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steve_amv8
1,144 posts
79 months
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aeropilot said: tomTVR said: steve_amv8 said: tomTVR said: gumsie said: chazwozza said: WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aston and Merc???? No. Because?? Because it would be nice to have at a British luxury car making that doesnt use German engines? I assume you do know where the current engines are built? Not really a German engine though, in the same way a Z4 isnt an American car. And the Ford-Cologne V12 isn't used in any other application, so is effectively 'bespoke' Aston-Martin.....as per a Savile Row suit....rather than an off the peg one....as would the MB unit, no matter how good it is. Sadly......this is the way of the world......it's all about percieved 'image' rather than anything else. Sad day for the Aston IMHO, if true. ... and who says that the variant of an MB unit won't be tailored in a similar way? Simple fact is that this is the way to survive, whilst distancing themselves from Ford.
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varsas
3,102 posts
71 months
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Makes sense to me, Aston need advanced engines and the merc units go well with how you expect an aston to go. If they don't use MB engines then, for example, who is going to pay to put direct injection onto the current engine?
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Beefmeister
10,826 posts
99 months
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I'm guessing the one-77 might use this new engine then?
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kambites
32,864 posts
90 months
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Sounds like a good idea to me. After all the Zonda doesn't seem to suffer from using a Merc engine.
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sprinter885
10,133 posts
96 months
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It's a shame with all this "engineering sharing" down to economies of scale that the econonic climate has thrown up.
Certain iconic identities could, at best, blend into some semi-uniform product with only different clothing to separate brands.
I know it's been going on for ages with everybody sharing diesel engines & link-ups between Ford/Alfa & Jap manufacturers but I'd hate to see things have to devolve into the Austin/Morris/MG/Wolseley etc badge engineering of the 70's.
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Healey73
1,118 posts
153 months
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dpbird90 said: Nooooo! Fair enough, the AMG V12 is great, but what about the amazing noise the current engines make? But just think of the noise from a Zonda too. As kambites said, Pagani has no problems with using AMG V12's. And too be honest there is nothing amazing about Aston V12's and especially not the V8. Don't get me wrong I love them but I can only see this as a good thing plus once Aston have breathed a little of their own magic over them I'm sure we will all breathe a sigh of relief.
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