Aston Martin, An Exotic Car With A Vivid History

Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars. It was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford.

From 1994 until 2007, Aston Martin was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company, becoming part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group when it was formed in 2000. In March 2007, a consortium of investors led by Prodrive boss David Richards purchased 90% of Aston Martin for £479 million, with Ford retaining a £40 million stake. In December 2012, the Italian private equity fund Investindustrial signed a deal to buy 37.5% of Aston Martin, investing £150 million as a capital increase.

In 1947, tractor manufacturer David Brown Limited bought the company under the leadership of managing director Sir David Brown—its "post-war saviour". The company also acquired Lagonda that year for its 2.6-litre W. O. Bentley-designed engine. Both companies shared resources and workshops, birthing the classic "DB" series of cars. In 1950, the company announced the DB2, followed by the DB2/4 in 1953, the DB2/4 MkII in 1955, the DB Mark III in 1957 and the Italian-styled 3.7 L DB4 in 1958.

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Ford placed Aston in the Premier Automotive Group, invested in new manufacturing and ramped up production. In 1994, Ford opened a new factory at Banbury Road in Bloxham. In 1995, the company produced a record 700 vehicles. Until the Ford era, cars had been produced by hand coachbuilding craft methods, such as the English wheel. In 1998 the 2,000th DB7 was built, and in 2002 the 6,000th, exceeding production of all previous DB models. The DB7 range was boosted by the addition of V12 Vantage models in 1999, and in 2001 the company introduced the V12-engined Aston Martin Vanquish.

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan in 2003, Aston Martin introduced the AMV8 Vantage concept car. Expected to have few changes before its introduction in 2005, the Vantage brought back the classic V8 engine to allow the company to compete in a larger market. 2003 also saw the opening of the Gaydon factory, the first purpose-built factory in Aston Martin's history. Also introduced in 2003 was the DB9 coupé, which replaced the ten-year-old DB7. A convertible version of the DB9, the DB9 Volante, was introduced at the 2004 Detroit Auto Show.

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