RE: Aston Martin sells Vanquish design for £20m

RE: Aston Martin sells Vanquish design for £20m

Friday 2nd August 2019

£19m Vanquish deal falls through | Update

Aston Martin reported losses of £35.2m for the first half of 2019



Aston’s recent bad financial results may have in part been driven by the falling through of a £19 million deal with an unnamed company, which was set to buy intellectual property relating to the discontinued Vanquish. The Gaydon car maker, which reported an operating loss of £35.2m for 2019’s first half (it made a £64.4m profit last year), was reportedly selling assets and licencing relating to the former V12 range-topper to a Chinese buyer, presumably to enable it to produce a version of the car in the Asian market.

But Automotive News has revealed that the deal has fallen through, with a spokesperson for Aston Martin stating: "The commercial position on this contract has deteriorated with significant doubt remaining over the outstanding receivable”, which sounds like it’s done and dusted. The hit to Aston will be substantial; its stock prices have halved since last year and estimated deliveries for 2019 have been reduced from 7,100 to 6,300 cars. This comes at a time the company is investing heavily in its St Athan site to get DBX production rolling in 2020.

The struggles mean the DBX will now arrive with an even more enormous weight on its shoulders, the SUV expected to turn sales fortunes around and set Aston Martin on a path of sustained growth in the next decade. There’s plenty more to be optimistic about, what with electrification also part of the agenda, the Valkyrie on course to become a worthy halo product and the relaunching of Lagonda set to extend Aston’s reach. But the financial troubles of today are undoubtedly worrying.

Original story - 24.10.2018


Aston Martin has made the bizarre decision to sell the designs and tooling for its Vanquish just a few months after the super-GT went out of production. A spokesman for the Gaydon firm, which has received £19 million for the deal, told PH that a third-party customer would receive “certain assets” and “license [to use] certain related intellectual property and know-how” for their cash.

Automotive News first spotted the deal buried on page 168 of Aston’s 321-page initial public offering prospectus that was released in September, but the document made no mention of who bought the Vanquish rights. Aston still isn’t willing to budge, telling PH that it is “not able to discuss certain conditions of the commercial arrangement”. Although the spokesman did mention that the customer reached out to Aston, rather than the car brand putting the Vanquish Mk2 up for sale.

Which begs the question, who would want the design of the second-generation Vanquish, that gorgeous but somewhat outdated (it was launched back in 2012) two-door coupe? A design house intent on producing its own production model seems likely. Ares and Mansory have both fiddled with Astons in recent years, but what about Bradford-based Kahn Design? The firm produced the DB9-based Vengeance a couple of years back and with no new supply of base cars for that, buying the rights for another Aston model might help keep supply flowing.


Either way, it’s likely the ‘new’ Vanquish won’t look much like the original, because Aston closely protects its design language (remember the faff it got into with former design director Henrik Fisker and his VLF Force 1 design). But it’s possible that it could retain a V12, with the Vanquish having used Aston’s old naturally aspirated 6.0-litre unit, which has since been superseded by its twin-turbocharged 5.2-litre motor. It all depends how far the “assets” in the deal extend.

The story doesn’t end there, either, because Aston’s spokesman told PH that the brand could be open to more projects like this in the future. Given that the marque has so many iconic models in its back catalogue, this could be an easy way to raise funds and grow its - already ailing - share price, a key focus for Aston since it listed on the London Stock Exchange earlier this month.

But for now let’s get back to the main question. Who’s bought the Mk. II Vanquish?

Author
Discussion

sidesauce

Original Poster:

2,456 posts

217 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
One of the most unusual stories I've ever read on PH...!

belleair302

6,835 posts

206 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
Chinese or Korean manufacturer looking to build a new to their manufacturing supercar??

TegTypeR

69 posts

131 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
You have to speculate a Chinese manufacturer but there is a nagging voice in my mind that it will be an EV start up company of some sort.

designndrive62

743 posts

156 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
Seems an odd thing to do. I wouldn't do this if i was in charge of Aston, could do harm to the brand if the company that has bought it produces something that 'looks a bit like an Aston Martin but worse'.

Presumably though they have done their due research into this to ensure that won't happen. However, these tuning and aftermarket companies don't usually come up with very appealing vehicles on the most part if it is one of them.

Good point made above on EV. could be a similar move to how TESLA used the lotus to start with

cookie1600

2,094 posts

160 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
Kahn

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
designndrive62 said:
Seems an odd thing to do. I wouldn't do this if i was in charge of Aston, could do harm to the brand if the company that has bought it produces something that 'looks a bit like an Aston Martin but worse'.

Presumably though they have done their due research into this to ensure that won't happen. However, these tuning and aftermarket companies don't usually come up with very appealing vehicles on the most part if it is one of them.
Chances are it's all contractually tied down - they don't explicitly state what it might be, so it could well be part of the architecture and assembly techniques etc, powertrain integration or anything inbetween.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
belleair302 said:
Chinese or Korean manufacturer looking to build a new to their manufacturing supercar??
That doesn't make sense. China are known to build blatant copies of anything that takes their fancy and to hell with the legal ramifications... "it looks nuffin' like it, sir" ..only translated in mandarin or whatever.

Plus, I hardly think Aston has the money to fight a legal case even if someone did copy/produce their model out with their country.


Regardless, a very odd deal.

Gecko1978

9,603 posts

156 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
If it was kahn I would ask did he pay in cash or some other commodity

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
The article said:
But it’s possible that it could retain a V12, with the Vanquish having used Aston’s old naturally aspirated 6.0-litre unit, which has since been superseded by its twin-turbocharged 5.2-litre motor.
Hmm... WLTP?

williamp

19,215 posts

272 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
Kia elan?? Could be a prestige move for someone, and extra cash for Aston. Wonder what happens if they ned to make spares??

Plug Life

978 posts

90 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
belleair302 said:
Chinese or Korean manufacturer looking to build a new to their manufacturing supercar??
Could be Dacia, to expand their range with a Dacia Blaster.

Jim the Sunderer

3,238 posts

181 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
Plug Life said:
Could be Dacia, to expand their range with a Dacia Blaster.
With that 1.5 dci engine, perfect car for a chap on disability allowance.

r11co

6,244 posts

229 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
TooMany2cvs said:
The article said:
But it’s possible that it could retain a V12, with the Vanquish having used Aston’s old naturally aspirated 6.0-litre unit, which has since been superseded by its twin-turbocharged 5.2-litre motor.
Hmm... WLTP?
IIRC the AM V12 engine design is owned by Ford/Mazda as it is a 12 cylinder version of the AJV6 engine.

souper

2,433 posts

210 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
What about a Software House or Microsoft for in-game media rights.

r11co

6,244 posts

229 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
souper said:
What about a Software House or Microsoft for in-game media rights.
It would be significantly cheaper to licence the design rather than buy it outright, plus what use would they have for the tooling?

hyphen

26,262 posts

89 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
sidesauce said:
One of the most unusual stories I've ever read on PH...!
Add 20m more to the company so it looked better for the IPO?

The IPO where the CEO stood to make a whole load of cash,
https://www.fidelity.com/news/article/IPO/20180920...
https://www.ft.com/content/46361be6-bcee-11e8-8274...


and that went wrong for the employees who invested. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/10/21/as...

The whole thing stinks if you ask me.


Nerdherder

1,773 posts

96 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
sidesauce said:
One of the most unusual stories I've ever read on PH...!
Unusual plus very interesting. Keep this kind of stuff coming please!

lordf

690 posts

166 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
TVR or Tesla.

Or Redbull are going to make a road car...

HRCM

70 posts

88 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
Lotus/ Geely?

Dyson?

Idle thoughts but who knows

HRCM

70 posts

88 months

Wednesday 24th October 2018
quotequote all
Lotus/ Geely?

Dyson?

Idle thoughts but who knows