Bad news?

[williamp]

Jon39 said:

This all reminds me of the joke (or probably truth), where a friend of Mr Victor Gauntlett asked if he could buy an Aston Martin at cost price. Mr Gauntlett said, "Certainly, that will be £500 extra".

Actually that was David Brown with the DB5. Or was it Gordon Sutherland with a 2 litre?? I forget. But I do agree with the sentiment of your post. However, the world of cars has changed.

It used to be an amazing fact that Mercedes spend 1m dollars a day on R&D. A huge amount of anyones money. But not anymore. JLR spend far more then this today. Development spend for the new Range Rover, including R&D and the new production facility/ tooling has totalled.... £1bn. For ONE type of vehicle. They need to replace the defender soon. And a 3-series rival?? It all adds up. The sums are vast. Even with platform sharing. And JLR arent allowerd to share platforms (see the X-type. Only the VW group can get away with this, seemingly according to the press)

So can any manufacturer needing to compete go it alone these days? It seems not. The truly independant manufacturers (of which the UK has more then any other country in the world- remember that) have faults which owners ("enthusiasts") are expected to put up with. To iron out these faults cosst ££££

So who are the large volume independant manufacturers?? None. Everyone is owned by someone else: by some investors somewhere. Its the nature of the beast, the rules of the game, the way of the world.

So, who owns Mercedes. The Germans?? Nope. Daimler owns Mercedes benz, and they are owned by: 36.7% Kuwait; 28.2% German; 36.9% Europe ex-Germany; 11.9% United States; 9.0% United Arab Emirates; 3.6% Others

Its likely that those German, Europe and US investment firms are also part-owned by UK investment institutuions, which will include the Uk banks. Its not a daft assumption, therefore to say that we, the british tax payers who own shares in some Uk banks, who invest in companies whose portfolios include M-B, own part of M-B. And therefore will be owing part of Aston in the future.

The days of Victor gauntlett, Peter Wheeler, Butzi Porsche et al are gone. The cars are better for it. And if you dont agree, the Uk makes more small, unique, niche cars then anyone else in the world.

[Jockman]

Love your romantic logic William

Just purchasing some EADS shares on a SIP and I'm intrigued by the pies that Daimler has its fingers in.

You must remember our ownership of these companies through our pension holdings too

[Neil1300R]

Jockman said:

C'mon Yeti - Bez did make the (erroneous) claim for people to read.

I do hope Neil is asleep

[XXXAngelXXX]

• But it's between MB and a tractor company according to the press*

Well the tractor company also works together with MB

[steveatesh]

XXXAngelXXX said:

*But it's between MB and a tractor company according to the press*

Well the tractor company also works together with MB

Ah so a hint that MB could be involved in any case...... I recall a thread a month or so ago where AMs future was being speculated over again, and somebody commented that Tata had been asked if they would be interested in buying AM and they apparently replied that yes they would, but MB had it sewn up........

[benzpassion]

williamp said:

So, who owns Mercedes. The Germans?? Nope. Daimler owns Mercedes benz, and they are owned by: 36.7% Kuwait; 28.2% German; 36.9% Europe ex-Germany; 11.9% United States; 9.0% United Arab Emirates; 3.6% Others

- that's not correct. That's from some time ago, and I think that Kuwait figure is plain wrong. From the horse's mouth:

http://www.daimler.com/investor-relations/daimler-...

7.6% Kuwait
3% Renault/Nissan
69% institutional investors
20% private investors

geographically:

7.6% Kuwait
34% Germany
36% non-Germany Europe
U.S. 19%
Asia 3%

Abu Dhabi(Aabar) got in, with around 10%, from 2009, and got out wholly just this October.

German-centric institutions, like UBS AG and Deutsche Bank AG, still have a large official and unofficial say in the ownership and destiny of Daimler AG, and would block any takeover, or attempt to asset strip, by forcing the breakup into Mercedes-Benz Cars division, Trucks&Buses, Mercedes-Benz Bank, etc..

[Jon39]

More to read on this subject.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Why-Anand-Mahin...

Extracts from The Times of India

'Mahindra makes tractors, sports utility vehicles, cars, two-wheelers, trucks et al — and the gap in technology, brand equity, price and positioning between the Mahindra brand and Aston Martin is glaring. It is a bit like trying to fit Walmart and Louis Vuitton into one box.'

'the British carmaker should be worried about where it will get its engines from if Mahindra becomes an owner — it currently sources its engines from Ford, but the agreement comes up for renewal in mid-2013; Mahindra, though, has the option of buying the engine plant as part of the transaction with Aston Martin.'

...........

That might provide reassurance for a continued supply of existing engines, but what about the future requirement for lower emmisions engines?

[Mr Aston Martin]

It would have been interesting to see if anyone was burning the midnight oil over the weekend at Gaydon.


Hopefully an announcement will be made tomorrow which will help provide certainty for the employees.

[Jon39]

Mr Aston Martin said:

It would have been interesting to see if anyone was burning the midnight oil over the weekend at Gaydon.

Some vague reports of rickshaws in the 'Aston Martins Only' section of the car park !!!

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 2nd December 19:22

[mikey k]

no tractors then

[Mr Aston Martin]

That reminds me of an old football chant that was sung when we played Ipswich.

Sung in a strong Suffolk accent

I can't read and I can't write but I can drive a tractoooorr



God I feel old as that was over thirty years ago.....

[FatFrank]

Mr Aston Martin said:

That reminds me of an old football chant that was sung when we played Ipswich.

Sung in a strong Suffolk accent

I can't read and I can't write but I can drive a tractoooorr

God I feel old as that was over thirty years ago.....

Mr. AM, you can still hear regularly today if you visit the right game,

I can't read and I can't write but it don't really matter,
Cause I'm Swindon Town fan and I can drive a tractor....

Sorry, quite Off Topic, but made you post did make me laugh!

FF

[XXXAngelXXX]

I hope it will be MB for the Gaydon employees ....

[brakedwell]

+1

[FatFrank]

+2

[RichB]

Mr Aston Martin said:

That reminds me of an old football chant that was sung when we played Ipswich. Sung in a strong Suffolk accent - "I can't read and I can't write but I can drive a tractoooorr"

With a second verse of "I turns it left (waving right hand in the air) and I turns it right (waving left hand in air) yes, I can drive a tractooor...

[brakedwell]

RichB said:

With a second verse of "I turns it left (waving right hand in the air) and I turns it right (waving left hand in air) yes, I can drive a tractooor...

You have just described our local yummy mummys in their 4X4's

[MaverickV12]

Aside from the Tractor songs, (which I do remember), this threat has had a lot of speculation as to who is buying what, does anyone have any firm info as to who is offering what? Is it MB, mahindra, TaTa, my mate, 'Ted" ?

Anyone have firm info

[Neil1300R]

MaverickV12 said:

Aside from the Tractor songs, (which I do remember), this threat has had a lot of speculation as to who is buying what, does anyone have any firm info as to who is offering what? Is it MB, mahindra, TaTa, my mate, 'Ted" ?

Anyone have firm info

Read the linked articles from Bloombergs + Rueters. Financial news organisations (amongst other things) who only report facts, they don't do speculation /rumours as they have the ability to move finacial markets based on their reporting.
Or just Google - Aston Martin and click on the 'News' feeds

[Jon39]

InvestIndustrial nears Aston Martin deal

The FT have released a story.

I think a hyperlink to FT requests registration, so
try a Google search using the above heading.