Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Aston Martin, Ford, Volvo, Earnings/Financials It'd be far too easy to dismiss as negligible the minority stake in Aston Martin retained by Ford after the sale, but even in the new era, Aston models will continue to benefit from its ties to the Ford Motor Corporation. In addition to the safety systems expertise garnered from Aston's former PAG sister-company Volvo, on which we reported earlier, Ford resources will continue to have input into currently-produced and upcoming Aston Martin products. in a number of ways. First, Ford still owns the engine plant where Aston Martin's V8s and V12s are built, in Cologne, Germany. Second, even though Aston is no longer a wholly-owned Ford subsidiary, the British sportscar-maker will continue to benefit from FoMoCo's buying power in securing bulk rates on raw materials, especially aluminum. And third, Ford engineers are tipped to play an even larger role in developing future Astons, input which will come in handy especially as AM rushes to get the Rapide to market ahead of Porsche, which has been working on the Panamera for some time now. When the sale was announced, Ford's statement read that they wished Aston Martin well in its new stage. As it turns out, they won't be leaving that up to chance. Related posts: Rapide leads the way for Aston under new ownership It's done: Aston Martin sold for $925 million [Source: Motor Authority] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time More...
