Friday 8th September 2006

Aston buy-out rumours swirl

AM won't be Japanese say analysts

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AM Rapide: will it be a BMW?

Whatever Aston Martin becomes, it won't be Japanese. That's the view of auto industry analysts anyway.

As speculation continues to swirl around the iconic marque, the consensus seems to be that Honda, Toyota and Nissan -- companies with deep enough pockets to fund the purchase of Aston Martin -- are unlikely to want to buy it.

The marque would undoubtedly add a halo effect to their more quotidian cars, but they're not in a position of offer the kinds of service levels that AM customers have become accustomed to, according to analyst Koji Endo from Credit Suisse Securities, who said: "The customer base is totally different. Those who buy Aston Martin cars are ultra rich."

Although Toyota is bidding to push its Lexus brand upmarket, "the categories [of Lexus and Aston Martin] are totally different. It would be hard to expect synergy," said analyst Tatsuya Mizuno at FitchRatings.

None of the three companies mentioned have made any comments on the matter.

Perhaps the most likely candidate is the highly profitable BMW, whose Rolls Royce subsidiary wouldn't clash with the far more sporty spirit of Aston Martin, and whose own brand is becoming harder to push upmarket as its perception of being a premium brand has eroded due to the cars' ubiquity.

[james123]

i hope it will be back into british hands because we are anyway the best at making sports cars.

[Dr JonboyG]

said:

"The customer base is totally different.

You can say that again. People who buy Japanese cars expect them not to break down.

[seechim]

james123 said:

i hope it will be back into british hands because we are anyway the best at making sports cars.

You can't say that, look at TVR and how they don't work very well. Look at MG and how shit they are/were.

I'm all for Aston being British again, but you can't expect miracles to happen in reliability with our car designs!

[Twincam16]

Well I hope whoever does buy them out goes for one or two redesigns. I saw an AMV8, a DB9 and a Vanquish on Belgian plates in Calais yesterday and I was certain for several hours that they were actually all the same cars. Aston Martin have so many great 'looks' in their cupboard that I find it rather disappointing that they keep going for the 'DB6' one. They might as well just do the DB9, but offer it with a choice of 2 or 4 seats and V8 or V12 engines.

On the other hand, I hope it doesn't end up doing a 'Lamborghini' and get bought out by someone like Megatech, who can't really afford to develop it properly and resort to festooning them in skirts and spoilers. I also hope that VAG doesn't buy them because they'd just become yet another dull W12-platform uber-Audi.

I wouldn't mind BMW ownership for Aston Martin though - look at what they've done with Rolls-Royce. They own it, yes, but absolutely everything (apart from the iDrive, and cross-pollinated Rollers are nothing new, they've used Citroen suspension for decades) is bespoke and British. They're also not afraid to try out new design directions and return to often-overlooked touches dismissed by others as 'old fashioned', like square-edged headlights and forward-raked front-ends. If the AMV8 was styled to look like a tauter, more muscular update of the 1967 DBS, that would be brilliant.

[v8tvr]

Twincam16 said:

Well I hope whoever does buy them out goes for one or two redesigns. I saw an AMV8, a DB9 and a Vanquish on Belgian plates in Calais yesterday and I was certain for several hours that they were actually all the same cars

?????????????????? need some glasses mate



. Aston Martin have so many great 'looks' in their cupboard that I find it rather disappointing that they keep going for the 'DB6' one. They might as well just do the DB9, but offer it with a choice of 2 or 4 seats and V8 or V12 engines.

On the other hand, I hope it doesn't end up doing a 'Lamborghini' and get bought out by someone like Megatech, who can't really afford to develop it properly and resort to festooning them in skirts and spoilers. I also hope that VAG doesn't buy them because they'd just become yet another dull W12-platform uber-Audi.

I wouldn't mind BMW ownership for Aston Martin though - look at what they've done with Rolls-Royce. They own it, yes, but absolutely everything (apart from the iDrive, and cross-pollinated Rollers are nothing new, they've used Citroen suspension for decades) is bespoke and British. They're also not afraid to try out new design directions and return to often-overlooked touches dismissed by others as 'old fashioned', like square-edged headlights and forward-raked front-ends. If the AMV8 was styled to look like a tauter, more muscular update of the 1967 DBS, that would be brilliant.

[beasto]

It would be nice to see an MBO so that's it's not a cog in a giant's wheel.

I agree though about styling across the range -- I can tell them apart, but do think they are too similar.

I'd like to see a bit of Zagato-ness somewhere, which might add a little oomph!

[Twincam16]

beasto said:

I agree though about styling across the range -- I can tell them apart, but do think they are too similar.

I worked it out after a while - AMV8 has slightly shorter overhangs, Vanquish has flared-out rear haunches, DB9 is the 'Ian Callum Default Setting'.

If I was going over the range, I'd make the AMV8 more redolant of the past V8s, taking inspiration from American muscle (the 'DB' shape is too naturally elegant to be truncated like that, I'd be thinking of something more along the lines of the DBS V8 via the current GM Camaro concept). The DB9 can stay as it is, the Vanquish needs to be more tasteful, so I might look even further back - to the DB3S and DBR1.