Aston Martin owned outright by MB Good or Bad?

[Pistachio]

Rumours appearing that Aston Martin might be bought out by Mercedes Benz.
Is this good or bad for the brand?
My feeling is that technical help is one thing but out right control is bad possiby.

[Johnnytheboy]

I suspect good thing if they get enough autonomy.

AM are struggling with development costs IMO.

[vtecyo]

Look what Audi did for Lambo... and Audi for that matter.

Good imo. Plus no more Aston Martin Fiestas.

[Johnnytheboy]

Ditto Tata have made a fair fist of JLR.

[kambites]

Hard to say without knowing exactly what Mercedes would do with them.

Could either go the way of Lamborghini or the way of Rover.

[Engineer1]

If Merc bought Aston Martin I would assume it would be to get the name and heritage, I can't see anywhere where they compete against each other or any major fancy tech that AM has that Merc could want Rover always had sub brands and links into JLR etc meaning buying the company could get you technology cheaper than developing it yourself.

[anonymous-user]

vtecyo said:

Look what Audi did for Lambo... and Audi for that matter.

Good imo. Plus no more Aston Martin Fiestas.

Same with VW and Bentley and BMW with Rolls

[Impasse]

vtecyo said:

Plus no more Aston Martin Fiestas.

Aston Martin A Class.

[jhoneyball]

Will still be passing loads of Aston Martin Fords every day though. Hard to tell a Ford from a Aston front on, at a quick glance.

[Catatafish]

jhoneyball said:

Will still be passing loads of Aston Martin Fords every day though. Hard to tell a Ford from a Aston front on, at a quick glance.

Jesus, better get into specsavers sharpish.

[CHN]

Just means that there will be plenty of rusty Astons about in about 10 years time.

[LordHaveMurci]

Catatafish said:

jhoneyball said:

Will still be passing loads of Aston Martin Fords every day though. Hard to tell a Ford from a Aston front on, at a quick glance.

Jesus, better get into specsavers sharpish.

[RizzoTheRat]

I read the title and thought Bond had an ejector seat in his Aston years ago! Disappointed to see you meant Mercedes Benz not Martin Baker.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

Really well equipped, well built, highly technical, computerised Astons with no soul?
Hmm.

[belleair302]

When you look at the vast costs associated with developing a new car today and the ever changing laws about emissions, electronics, pedestrian safety etc.....it cannot be a bad thing to have a major car manufacturer on your side. Politics will be the issue, management by committee an sharing parts (internally) along with separate production runs and costs. mercedes tried to buy McLaren a decade ago but failed and it would be a shame to see Aston Martin as a Mercedes sub brand. A majority share holding would be very beneficial as it would improve the Aston range, quality and performance levels....an outright 60% or more sale would be a bad move for the brand and its employees.

[The Vambo]

Buff Mchugelarge said:

Really well equipped, well built, highly technical, computerised Astons with no soul?
Hmm.

Damn the stuffy soulless Bosch

[davepoth]

Probably a good thing. Mercedes have gone a bit sensible with the AMG range recently, and so now more than ever they're becoming seen as the type of car used by minicab drivers all over the world.

Maybach didn't work, and that means that they don't have anything to go toe-to-toe with BMW (Rolls Royce) or VAG (Bentley). Aston-Martin / Lagonda is in the same kind of area in terms of heritage and cache, and with the existing relationship it makes sense. Added to that, the Mercedes Benz parts bin is a much nicer one to take indicator stalks out of than the Ford one.

[anonymous-user]

davepoth said:

Added to that, the Mercedes Benz parts bin is a much nicer one to take indicator stalks out of than the Ford one.

If it's from the Mercedes bin it'll just be the one stalk...

[Pistachio]

dme123 said:

davepoth said:

Added to that, the Mercedes Benz parts bin is a much nicer one to take indicator stalks out of than the Ford one.

Are you sure they are better...
Mclaren nearly ended up using carry over from MB thankfully MB walked away and McLaren developed all new switch gear.
They are horrid and plastickyand the single lever is awful.

[KTF]

Which is better. Aston Martin owned by Mercedes or no more Aston Martin as its going to boil down to that unless they do something soon.