Geoff Lawson (5 November 1944 – 24 June 1999) was a British car designer and was Design Director for Jaguar from 1989 until his death in June 1999. He was succeeded at Jaguar by Ian Callum .
98-630: The Aston Martin DB7 is a car that was produced by British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin from September 1994 to December 2004. It was designed by Ian Callum and Keith Helfet as a grand tourer in coupé and convertible bodystyles. The prototype was complete by November 1992 and debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1993. The six-cylinder DB7 (based on the Jaguar AJ6 engine)
196-441: A TREMEC T-56 six-speed manual or a ZF 5HP30 five-speed automatic. Aston Martin claimed the car had a top speed of either 299 km/h (186 mph) with the manual gearbox or 266 km/h (165 mph) with the automatic gearbox, and could accelerate from 0–97 km/h (60 mph) in 4.9 seconds. The V12 Vantage is 4,692 mm (184.7 in) long, 1,830 mm (72.0 in) wide, 1,243 mm (48.9 in) high, with
294-596: A 0–60 mph acceleration time of 4.9 seconds. Unlike the later DB AR1, the Zagato is built on a shortened chassis that has a 60 mm (2 in) shorter wheelbase and is 211 mm (8 in) shorter overall. It is also approximately 130 lb (59 kg) lighter than the standard DB7. The DB AR1 (standing for American Roadster 1 ) was introduced at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 2003. It
392-522: A 12.5% stake in Aston Martin for £500,000 via Pace Petroleum in 1980, with Tim Hearley of CH Industrials taking a similar share. Pace and CHI took over as joint 50/50 owners at the beginning of 1981, with Gauntlett as executive chairman. Gauntlett also led the sales team, and after some development and publicity when the Lagonda became the world's fastest four-seater production car, was able to sell
490-840: A 55-acre (22 ha) facility in Gaydon , Warwickshire, England, on the former site of RAF Gaydon , adjacent to the Jaguar Land Rover Gaydon Centre . The old 3.6-acre (1.5 ha) facility in Newport Pagnell , Buckinghamshire is the present home of the Aston Martin Works classic car department, which focuses on heritage sales, service, spares and restoration operations. The 90-acre (36 ha) factory in St Athan , Wales features three converted 'super-hangars' from MOD St Athan , and serves as
588-784: A British cultural icon. Aston Martin has held a royal warrant as purveyor of motorcars to Charles III (as Prince of Wales and later as King) since 1982, and has over 160 car dealerships in 53 countries, making it a global automobile brand. The company is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index . In 2003 it received the Queen's Award for Enterprise for outstanding contribution to international trade. The company has survived seven bankruptcies throughout its history. The headquarters and main production of its sports cars and grand tourers are in
686-508: A London businessman, who insisted to reporters that Aston Martin remained a British controlled business. Sprague later claimed he had fallen in love with the factory, not the cars, the workforce's craftsmanship dedication and intelligence. At this point, he and Minden had brought in investor Alan Curtis, a British office property developer, together with George Flather, a retired Sheffield steel magnate . Six months later, in September 1975,
784-655: A Tickford Austin Metro , a Tickford Ford Capri and even Tickford train interiors, particularly on the Jaguar XJS . Pace continued sponsoring racing events, and now sponsored all Aston Martin Owners Club events, taking a Tickford-engined Nimrod Group C car owned by AMOC President Viscount Downe , which came third in the Manufacturers Championship in both 1982 and 1983. It also finished seventh in
882-581: A car but he refused due to his on going projects at the time. Walkinshaw then engaged Ian Callum, who was new in the car design work at the time, to design the car. Jaguar had been struggling to replace the XJS due to its weak financial position. A project codenamed the XJ41/42 (41 for the coupé, 42 for the convertible) was already in development stage in the company, mooted to be called the F-Type when completed and
980-413: A consortium led by Prodrive chairman David Richards purchased Aston Martin for £475 million (US$ 848 million). The group included American investment banker John Sinders and two Kuwaiti companies namely Investment Dar and Adeem Investment . Prodrive had no financial involvement in the deal. Ford kept a stake in Aston Martin valued at £40 million (US$ 70 million). To demonstrate
1078-680: A full-year pre-tax profit of £87 million (compared with a £163 million loss in 2016) Aston Martin in August 2018 announced plans to float the company at the London Stock Exchange as Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc . The company was the subject of an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange on 3 October 2018. In the same year, Aston Martin opened a new vehicle dynamics test and development centre at Silverstone's Stowe Circuit alongside
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#17328011914331176-536: A futuristic design intended for the year 2020. Two front seats were protected by a roll-over hoop, behind which two smaller seats were hidden by a tonneau cover. Both Giorgetto Giugiaro and his son Fabrizio were responsible for the design work. The working concept car was powered by a 5.9-litre V12 engine, claimed to be uprated to 500 PS. Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC ( / ˈ æ s t ə n / )
1274-424: A mesh front grille, vents in the bonnet (hood), a boot (trunk) spoiler, an aluminium gear lever, optional carbon fibre interior trim and new wheels. It also has 355 mm (14.0 in) front and 330 mm (13.0 in) rear vented disc brakes made by Brembo . When being tested by Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear in 2003, he demonstrated the car's ability to pull away in fourth gear and continue until it hit
1372-521: A new HQ in London. In June 2019, the company opened its new 90-acre (36 ha) factory in St Athan for the production of its first-ever SUV the DBX . The factory was finally completed and officially opened on 6 December 2019. When full production begins in the second quarter of 2020, around 600 people will be employed at the factory, rising to 750 when peak production is reached. On 31 January 2020 it
1470-548: A one-off model in 1996 for his ownership based on the Aston Martin DB7. The car was fitted with a 6.4-litre Jaguar-TWR V12 engine based on a 6.0-litre V12 engine. The engine had a revised steel crankshaft and specially designed four-valves per cylinder heads. The twin cam-shafts worked by a unique chain drive mechanism. The engine has a claimed power output of 482 PS (355 kW; 475 hp) at 6,000 rpm and 637 N⋅m (470 lb⋅ft) of torque at 4,500 rpm. Power
1568-506: A partnership with Magna Steyr to outsource manufacture of over 2,000 cars annually to Graz, Austria, reassuringly stating: "The continuing growth and success of Aston Martin is based upon Gaydon as the focal point and heart of the business, with the design and engineering of all Aston Martin products continuing to be carried out there." More dealers in Europe and the new pair in China brought
1666-433: A petrol car. This statement was disputed by electric vehicle researcher Auke Hoekstra, who argued that the report underestimated the emissions from combustion engine vehicles and did not consider the emissions from creating petrol. According to him, a typical EV would need to drive 16,000–18,000 miles (25,700–30,000 km) to offset the emissions from manufacture. Bosch and a number of other companies were also involved with
1764-404: A pre-tax profit of £87 million compared with a £163 million loss in 2016. 2017 also marked the return of production of the Newport Pagnell facility ten years after it originally ceased. In December 2013, Aston Martin signed a deal with Mercedes-Benz Group (at the time known as Daimler) to supply the next generation of Aston Martin cars with Mercedes-AMG engines. Mercedes-AMG also
1862-585: A project name of XX. Ian Callum was again tasked to redesign the car so it would look like an Aston Martin. Due to a limited financial backing at the time, the final product shared many components from other marques owned by Ford. The tail lights came from the Mazda 323 F , the chrome door handles came from the Mazda 323 Estate, the turn signals came from the Mazda MX-5 and the interior door mirror switches came from
1960-588: A recession, AML cut back their workforce of 450 by more than 20%, making those people redundant. In January 1981, there having been no satisfactory revival partners, Alan Curtis and Peter Sprague announced they had never intended to maintain a long-term financial stake in Aston Martin Lagonda and it was to be sold to Pace Petroleum 's Victor Gauntlett . Sprague and Curtis pointed out that under their ownership AML finances had improved to where an offer for MG might have been feasible. Gauntlett bought
2058-478: A result of the poor sales, an outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. In March 2021, executive chairman Lawrence Stroll stated that the company plans on building electric vehicles by 2025. In May 2022, Aston Martin named 76-year-old Amedeo Felisa as the new chief executive officer, replacing Tobias Moers. Roberto Fedeli was also announced as the new chief technical officer. In late 2020, Aston Martin
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#17328011914332156-618: A shorter final drive ratio (4.09 for the DB7 GT compared to 3.77 for the manual DB7 Vantage). This resulted in dramatically improved mid-range performance and defined the different character of the DB7 GT compared to the DB7 Vantage (see table below). Additionally, the GT and GTA chassis had substantially updated suspension from the DB7 Vantage models. Aesthetically, compared to the Vantage it has
2254-638: A stake in 1987. Ford placed Aston Martin 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 to manufacture the DB7. In 1995, Aston Martin produced a record 700 cars. Until the Ford era, cars had been produced by hand coachbuilding craft methods, such as the English wheel . During the mid-1990s,
2352-530: A steel body designed in collaboration between Andrea Zagato at Zagato and the then chief designer of Aston Martin Henrik Fisker and features the signature 'double-bubble' Zagato roofline. Other features include a unique Analine leather interior not found on the normal DB7 and Zagato styled five-spoke alloy wheels. The car was only available in the UK, Europe and Southeast Asia. Like the DB7 Vantage on which it
2450-416: A top speed of 185 mph (298 km/h) and a 0–60 mph (97 km/h) acceleration time of 4.9 seconds. Aston Martin planned on a gentleman's racer programme featuring the DB7. For this purpose, Prodrive was commissioned to create a racing DB7 based on the first DB7 production car. This car features a red noseband. A second car, built by Works Service, followed and had a yellow noseband. The plans for
2548-494: A weight of 1,800 kg (3,968.3 lb). Aesthetic differences from the straight-6 DB7 include different wing mirrors and large fog lamps under the headlamps along with "DB7 Vantage" badging at the rear. After the launch of the Vantage, sales of the base DB7 with the supercharged straight-6 engine had reduced considerably so its production ended by mid-1999. In 2002, a new variant was launched, named V12 GT or V12 GTA when equipped with an automatic transmission (the A referring to
2646-435: Is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers . Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford . Steered from 1947 by David Brown , it became associated with expensive grand touring cars in the 1950s and 1960s, and with the fictional character James Bond following his use of a DB5 model in the 1964 film Goldfinger . Their grand tourers and sports cars are regarded as
2744-587: Is an evolution of the Jaguar XJS platform, though with many changes. The DB7 began life as a successor to the Jaguar XJS envisioned by Tom Walkinshaw of TWR . Walkinshaw had been impressed by the XJS' potential after driving it in the European Touring Car Championship in the late 1970s and early 1980s and wanted to re-body the car so it would have more modern styling. He initially wanted to engage Peter Stevens to design such
2842-557: Is based on the DB7 Vantage Volante and features a unique body designed by Zagato in collaboration with Henrik Fisker that is very similar to the previous coupé variant, but retaining a full-length chassis. Only 99 examples were produced for sale, though Aston Martin built one additional example for their own factory collection. They were only offered for the U.S. market. The AR1 was intended for sunny American states and as such had no roof of any kind. Collectors elsewhere in
2940-470: Is based, the DB7 Zagato is powered by a 6.0 L V12 engine that has been tuned to now produce 441 PS (324 kW; 435 hp) at 6,000 rpm and 410 lb⋅ft (556 N⋅m) of torque at 5,000 rpm. Power goes to the rear wheels via a 6-speed manual transmission or an optional 5-speed automatic. It featured upgraded suspension and brakes as well It has a top speed of 186 mph (299 km/h) and
3038-666: The 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans race. However, sales of production cars were now at an all-time low of 30 cars produced in 1982. As trading became tighter in the petroleum market, and Aston Martin was requiring more time and money, Gauntlett agreed to sell Hays/Pace to the Kuwait Investment Office in September 1983. As Aston Martin required greater investment, he also agreed to sell his share holding to American importer and Greek shipping tycoon Peter Livanos , who invested via his joint venture with Nick and John Papanicolaou, ALL Inc. Gauntlett remained chairman of AML, 55% of
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3136-575: The DB6 (1965–70), and DBS (1967–1972). The six-cylinder engines of these cars from 1954 up to 1965 were designed by Tadek Marek . Aston Martin was often financially troubled. In 1972, David Brown paid off all its debts, said to be £5 million or more, and handed it for £101 to Company Developments, a Birmingham -based investment bank consortium chaired by accountant William Willson . More detail on this period may be read at Willson's biography . The worldwide recession , lack of working capital and
3234-807: 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 . In October 2004, Aston Martin set up the dedicated 12,500 m (135,000 sq ft) Aston Martin Engine Plant (AMEP) within the Ford Germany Niehl, Cologne plant. With the capacity to produce up to 5,000 engines a year by 100 specially trained personnel, like traditional Aston Martin engine production from Newport Pagnell, assembly of each unit
3332-592: The Ford Scorpio . The only foreign component would be the wing mirrors which were shared with the Citroën CX . The whole project cost US$ 30 million. These vehicles were fitted with the Tibbe disc tumbler lock barrel design as used on Ford vehicles around the time of this vehicle's manufacture. The difference between Ford locks and the ones fitted to the DB7 is the fact the DB7 utilises 8 discs rather than 6, hence
3430-530: The Magna Steyr factory in Graz , Austria in 2010. The contract manufacturer provides dedicated facilities to ensure compliance with the exacting standards of Aston Martin and other marques, including Mercedes-Benz . Then CEO of the company, Ulrich Bez had publicly speculated about outsourcing all of Aston Martin's operations with the exception of marketing. In September 2011, it was announced that production of
3528-471: The Newport Pagnell plant rolled out the last of nearly 13,000 cars made there since 1955, a Vanquish S. The Tickford Street facility was converted and became the home of the Aston Martin Works classic car department which focuses on heritage sales, service, spares and restoration operations. UK production was subsequently concentrated on the 55-acre (22 ha) facility in Gaydon on the former RAF V Bomber airbase . In March 2008, Aston Martin announced
3626-530: The V8 Vantage in 1977, the convertible Volante in 1978, and the one-off Bulldog styled by William Towns in 1980. Towns also styled the futuristic new Lagonda saloon, based on the V8 model. Curtis, who had a 42% stake in Aston Martin, also brought about a change in direction from the usual customers who were Aston Martin fans, to successful young married businessmen. Prices had been increased by 25%. There
3724-504: The 100-year-old British brand consistently profitable. He stated, "In the first century we went bankrupt seven times. The second century is about making sure that is not the case." In preparation for its next-generation of sports cars, the company invested £20 million ($ 33.4 million) to expand its manufacturing plant in Gaydon. The expansion at the Gaydon plant includes a new chassis and pilot build facility, as well as an extension of
3822-607: The 1½-litre "T-type", "International", "Le Mans", "MKII" and its racing derivative, the "Ulster", and the 2-litre 15/98 and its racing derivative, the "Speed Model". Most were open two-seater sports cars bodied by Bert Bertelli's brother Enrico (Harry) , with a small number of long-chassis four-seater tourers, dropheads and saloons also produced. Bertelli was a competent driver keen to race his cars, one of few owner/manufacturer/drivers. The "LM" team cars were very successful in national and international motor racing including at Le Mans. Financial problems reappeared in 1932. Aston Martin
3920-666: The DB7 was more expensive than the XK. The DB7 was engineered in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, by TWR on behalf of Aston Martin. The engines continued to be built in Kidlington during the production run of the vehicle. With the production of the Virage (soon rechristened "V8" following Vantage styling revisions) continuing at Newport Pagnell , a new factory was acquired at Bloxham , Oxfordshire that had previously been used to manufacture
4018-818: The DB9 and DB9 Volante. In December 2003, Aston Martin announced it would return to motor racing in 2005. A new division was created, called Aston Martin Racing , which became responsible, together with Prodrive , for the design, development, and management of the DBR9 program. The DBR9 competes in the GT class in sports car races , including the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans . In 2006, an internal audit led Ford to consider divesting itself of parts of its Premier Automotive Group . After suggestions of selling Jaguar Cars , Land Rover , or Volvo Cars were weighed, Ford announced in August 2006 it had engaged UBS AG to sell all or part of Aston Martin at auction. On 12 March 2007,
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4116-575: The DBX SUV along with track focused cars like the Vulcan . According to Palmer, the troubles started when sales of the DB9 failed to generate sufficient fund to develop next-generation models which led to a downward spiral of declining sales and profitability. Palmer outlined that the company plans to develop two new platforms, add a crossover, refresh its supercar lineup and leverage its technology alliance with Daimler as part of its six-year plan to make
4214-619: The Green Pea; chassis number 1915, the Razor Blade record car; and chassis number 1916, later developed as the Halford Special . Approximately 55 cars were built for sale in two configurations; long chassis and short chassis. Bamford & Martin went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by Dorothea, Lady Charnwood , who put her son John Benson on the board. Bamford & Martin got into financial difficulty again in 1925 and Martin
4312-638: The Papanicolaou's shares in ALL, while Gauntlett again became a shareholder with a 25% holding in AML. The deal valued Aston Martin/AML at £2 million, the year it built its 10,000th car. Although as a result Aston Martin had to make 60 members of the workforce redundant, Gauntlett bought a stake in Italian styling house Zagato , and resurrected its collaboration with Aston Martin. In 1986, Gauntlett negotiated
4410-512: The RCA, he joined the British subsidiary of General Motors , Vauxhall , as a designer, where he worked on various passenger cars and commercial vehicles. His work included many European and American projects and he progressed to Chief Designer level. In 1984, he joined Jaguar as Director of Styling, where he arguably produced his best known and most influential work. He joined at a time when Jaguar
4508-532: The Rapide would be returned to Gaydon in the second half of 2012, restoring all of the company's automobile manufacture there. Italian private equity fund Investindustrial signed a deal on 6 December 2012 to buy a 37.5% stake in Aston Martin, investing £150 million as a capital increase. This was confirmed by Aston Martin in a press release on 7 December 2012. David Richards left Aston Martin in 2013, returning to concentrate on Prodrive. In April 2013, it
4606-541: The Special Projects Group, a secretive unit with Works Service at Newport Pagnell, created an array of special coach-built vehicles for the Brunei royal family. In 1998, the 2,000th DB7 was built, and in 2002, the 6,000th, exceeding production of all of the previous DB series models. The DB7 range was revamped by the addition of more powerful V12 Vantage models in 1999, and in 2001, Aston Martin introduced
4704-742: The V12-engined flagship model called the Vanquish which succeeded the aging Virage (now called the V8 Coupé). At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan in 2003, Aston Martin introduced the V8 Vantage concept car. Expected to have few changes before its introduction in 2005, the Vantage brought back the classic V8 engine to allow Aston Martin to compete in a larger market. 2003 also saw
4802-715: The V8 Vantage's durability across hazardous terrain and promote the car in China, the first east–west crossing of the Asian Highway was undertaken between June and August 2007. A pair of Britons drove 12,089 km (7,512 miles) from Tokyo to Istanbul before joining the European motorway network for another 3,259 km (2,025 miles) to London. The promotion was so successful Aston Martin opened dealerships in Shanghai and Beijing within three months. On 19 July 2007,
4900-568: The XJ220, where every DB7 would be built throughout its production run. The DB7 and its variants were the only Aston Martin automobiles produced in Bloxham and the only ones with a steel unit construction inherited from Jaguar (Aston Martin had traditionally used aluminium for construction of the bodies of their cars, and models introduced after the DB7 use aluminium for the chassis as well as for many major body parts). The convertible Volante version
4998-671: The XJ41. He presented the completed car to Jaguar's management who rejected it. Due to the development of the Jaguar XJ220 , Ford had not been very keen on development of new Aston Martin models, considering high development costs and the market in the wake of the 1990s economic downturn. Aston Martin CEO at the time, Walter Hayes approached Walkinshaw as he had seen the potential in Walkinshaw's proposition to succeed. Development started with
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#17328011914335096-416: The ancient V8 and introduced the Virage range. Although Gauntlett was contractually to stay as chairman for two years, his racing interests took the company back into sports car racing in 1989 with limited European success. However, with engine rule changes for the 1990 season and the launch of the new Volante model, Ford provided the limited supply of Cosworth engines to the Jaguar cars racing team. As
5194-440: The automatic transmission itself). It was essentially an improved version of the Vantage, with its V12 engine now having a power output of 441 PS (324 kW; 435 hp) and 410 lb⋅ft (556 N⋅m) of torque for the manual GT, although the GTA retained the engine having a power output of 426 PS (313 kW; 420 hp) and 400 lb⋅ft (542 N⋅m) of torque of the standard DB7 Vantage. The DB7 GT also received
5292-591: The car in Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar. In 1982, Aston Martin was granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment by the Prince of Wales . Understanding that it would take some time to develop new Aston Martin products, they created an engineering service subsidiary to develop automotive products for other companies. It was decided to use a trade name of Salmons & Son, their in-house coachbuilder, Tickford , which Aston Martin had bought in 1955. Tickford's name had been long associated with expensive high-quality carriages and cars along with their folding roofs. New products included
5390-456: The classic "DB" series of cars. In April 1950, they announced planned production of their Le Mans prototype to be called 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. While these models helped Aston Martin establish a good racing pedigree, the DB4 stood out and yielded the famous DB5 in 1963. Aston stayed true to its grand touring style with
5488-425: The completely new aluminium-bodied 2004 XJ . Lawson played a role in the commercial revival of the company, which in the last decade, and under new owner Ford , made record sales and a new-found reputation for good quality. This turnaround led to parent-company Ford and Jaguar's then chairman, Wolfgang Reitzle , to set ambitious sales targets in the belief that Jaguar could become a major luxury car manufacturer in
5586-403: The consortium, acquiring 3.4% and 4.8% stakes, respectively. In March 2020, Stroll increased his stake in the company to 25%. On 26 May 2020, Aston Martin announced that Andy Palmer had stepped down as CEO. Tobias Moers of Mercedes-AMG will succeed him starting 1 August, with Keith Stanton as interim chief operating officer. In June 2020, the company announced that it cut out 500 jobs as
5684-465: The difficulties of developing an engine to meet California's exhaust emission requirements – it stopped the company's US sales – again pulled Aston Martin into receivership at the end of 1974. The company had employed 460 workers when the manufacturing plant closed. The receiver sold the business in April 1975 for £1.05 million to North American businessman Peter Sprague of National Semiconductor , Toronto hotelier George Minden, and Jeremy Turner,
5782-407: The end of the DB7's production run, the DB7 Zagato and DB AR1 . The DB7 Zagato was introduced at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August 2002 and later shown at the Paris Motor Show the following October. It was only offered for the 2003 model year, with a limited run of 99 cars built (a 100th car was produced for the Aston Martin museum), all of which immediately sold out. The car has
5880-508: The entertainment, navigation and other systems. It was also the first model to use Mercedes-AMG V8 engines. In October 2020, Mercedes confirmed it will increase its holding "in stages" from 5% to 20%. In return, Aston Martin will have access to Mercedes-Benz hybrid and electric drivetrain technologies for its future models. After "completing a turnaround for the once perennially loss-making company that could now be valued at up to 5 billion pounds ($ 6.4 billion)," and now reporting
5978-420: The entry-level DB7 would require a large engineering input, Ford agreed to take full control of Aston Martin, and Gauntlett handed over Aston Martin's chairmanship to Hayes in 1991. In 1992, the high-performance variant of the Virage called the Vantage was announced, and the following year Aston Martin renewed the DB range by announcing the DB7. By 1993, Ford had fully acquired the company after having built
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#17328011914336076-582: The factory – shut down the previous December – re-opened under its new owner as Aston Martin Lagonda Limited with 100 employees, and planned to lift staff to 250 by the end of 1975. In January 1976, AML revealed that it now held orders for 150 cars for the US, 100 for other markets and another 80 from a Japanese importing agency. At the Geneva Motor Show , Fred Hartley, managing director and sales director for 13 years before that, announced he had resigned over "differences in marketing policy". The new owners pushed Aston Martin into modernising its line, introducing
6174-419: The key blade and the lock barrel is longer. Jaguar vehicles also used the 8 disc Tibbe locks. An alternate DB7 proposal was considered in 1991 to develop a 6-cylinder platform from the Escort RS Cosworth's 4x4 system. On 1 January 1993, Jac Nasser was appointed the new chairman of Ford Europe. He presented the finished car, which had yet to be named, to the general public at the 1993 Geneva Motor Show . Due to
6272-400: The mould of Audi , BMW , and Mercedes-Benz . He won numerous awards for his designs at Jaguar and also led a major expansion of the company’s styling resources and facilities at their Whitley Engineering Centre. In June 2000, Jaguar opened the Geoff Lawson Studio in his memory in Whitley, Coventry , which is responsible for producing future Jaguar concept cars. In addition, Jaguar endowed
6370-402: The opening of the Gaydon factory, the first purpose-built factory in Aston Martin's history. The facility is situated on a 55-acre (22 ha) site of a former RAF V Bomber airbase , with an 8,000 m (86,000 sq ft) front building for offices, meeting rooms and customer reception, and a 35,000 m (380,000 sq ft) production building. Also introduced in 2003 was
6468-517: The original Mille Miglia , while watching the revival event. Another house guest was Walter Hayes , vice-president of Ford of Europe . Despite problems over the previous acquisition of AC Cars , Hayes saw the potential of the brand and the discussion resulted in Ford taking a share holding in September 1987. In 1988, having produced some 5,000 cars in 20 years, a revived economy and successful sales of limited edition Vantage , and 52 Volante Zagato coupés at £86,000 each; Aston Martin finally retired
6566-602: The outbreak of the First World War , when Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford joined the Army Service Corps . After the war they found new premises at Abingdon Road, Kensington and designed a new car. Bamford left in 1920 and Bamford & Martin was revitalised with funding from Louis Zborowski . In 1922, Bamford & Martin produced cars to compete in the French Grand Prix , which went on to set world speed and endurance records at Brooklands . Three works Team Cars with 16-valve twin cam engines were built for racing and record-breaking: chassis number 1914, later developed as
6664-494: The parts and logistics storage area, and new offices. In total, Aston Martin will add approximately 10,000 m (110,000 sq ft) to the plant. In 2014, Aston Martin suffered a pre-tax loss of £72 million, almost triple of the amount of 2013 selling 3,500 cars during the year, well below the 7,300 cars sold in 2007 and 4,200 sold in 2013 respectively. In March 2014, Aston Martin issued "payment in kind" notes of US$ 165 million, at 10.25% interest, in addition to
6762-399: The positive and overwhelming reception, the car was put into production as the Aston Martin DB7. The positive response also prompted Jaguar to use the platform for the XJS' successor. The car was redesigned by Geoff Lawson and was launched in the market as the Jaguar XK which uses an evolution of the XJS platform (called the X100 by Jaguar) and the cars share a family resemblance, although
6860-401: The power of the engine and had specially designed 20-spoke alloy wheels. During the 2001 Geneva Motor Show , Italdesign presented an open-top concept car based on the DB7 mechanicals. The Aston Martin Twenty Twenty was designed in such a way as to overlay the structural extruded aluminium panels and beams over the car's carbon and plastic bodywork. The name 'Twenty Twenty' was meant to invoke
6958-557: The previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London where they also serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton , and the pair decided to make their own vehicles. The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta Fraschini . They acquired premises at Henniker Mews in Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of
7056-544: The production site of Aston Martin's SUV , the DBX . Aston Martin has been involved in motorsport at various points in its history, mainly in sports car racing , and also in Formula One . The Aston Martin brand is increasingly being used, mostly through licensing, on other products including a submarine, real estate development, and aircraft. Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford . The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin
7154-418: The racing series were cancelled. In 1998, Works Service was given the task of supplying a DB7 powered by the famous V8. To make things more interesting, Works Service opted to use the 6.3 litre variant as also seen in the Virage 6.3. Unique features to distinguish this car include twin power bulges on the bonnet including brass coloured mesh grilles for additional cooling. TWR owner Tom Walkinshaw commissioned
7252-588: The report received coverage from The Sunday Times and other publications, it emerged that the company had been set up in February that year and was registered under the name of Rebecca Stephens – the wife of James Stephens, who is the government affairs director of Aston Martin Lagonda. Citing a study by Polestar , the report stated that electric vehicles would need to be driven 48,000 miles (77,000 km) before they would have lower overall CO 2 emissions than
7350-700: The report. Geoff Lawson (designer) Lawson was born in Leicester , England in 1944. He studied Design at the Leicester College of Art before completing a master's degree in furniture design at the Royal College of Art , London . A man of diverse hobbies and interests, he was interested in American cars, guns and shooting, model making, guitar playing and guitar design, mountain biking, abstract art and sculpture. After graduating from
7448-547: The return of the fictional British secret agent James Bond to Aston Martin. Cubby Broccoli had chosen to recast the character using actor Timothy Dalton , in an attempt to re-root the Bond-brand back to a more Sean Connery -like feel. Gauntlett supplied his personal pre-production Vantage for use in the filming of The Living Daylights , and sold a Volante to Broccoli for use at his home in America. Gauntlett turned down
7546-479: The rev limiter: the speedometer indicated 217 km/h (135 mph). Production of the GT and GTA was extremely limited, as only 190 GTs and 112 GTAs were produced worldwide and only 64 GTs and 17 GTAs were shipped to the US market, out of a total of 302 cars. (48 - 113 Km/h) (80 - 113 Km/h) (80 - 113 Km/h) (80 - 113 Km/h) A number of special-edition DB7 cars were built: Two special edition variants were made at
7644-402: The role of a KGB colonel in the film, however: "I would have loved to have done it but really could not afford the time." As Aston Martin needed funds to survive in the long term, Ford bought a 75% stake in the company in 1987, and bought the rest later. In May of that year, Victor Gauntlett and Prince Michael of Kent were staying at the home of Contessa Maggi, the wife of the founder of
7742-415: The stake was owned by ALL, with Tickford a 50/50 venture between ALL and CHI. The uneasy relationship was ended when ALL exercised options to buy a larger share in AML; CHI's residual shares were exchanged for CHI's complete ownership of Tickford, which retained the development of existing Aston Martin projects. In 1984, Papanicolaou's Titan shipping business was in trouble so Livanos's father George bought out
7840-568: The standard configuration offered. The straight-6 models were phased out in mid-1999 due to lack of market interest. In 1999, the more powerful DB7 V12 Vantage was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show. Its 5.9-litre, 48-valve, Aston Martin V12 engine has a power output of 426 PS (313 kW; 420 hp) and 400 lb⋅ft (542 N⋅m) of torque. It has a compression ratio of 10.3:1. Two transmission choices were available, those being
7938-450: The total to 120 in 28 countries. On 1 September 2008, Aston Martin announced the revival of the Lagonda marque, proposing a concept car to be shown in 2009 to coincide with the brand's 100th anniversary. The first production cars were slated for production in 2012. In December 2008, Aston Martin announced it would cut its workforce from 1,850 to 1,250 due to the economic recession. The first four-door Rapide grand tourers rolled out of
8036-521: The world have attempted to remedy this, but long-time DB AR1 owner Robert Stockman commissioned Zagato to construct a small folding convertible top. The resulting electrically operated unit is very slight, referred to as a "shelter" rather than a roof by Andrea Zagato, and hides behind the seats when not in use. The DB AR1 uses the 5.9 litre, 48-valve, V12 engine from the DB7 producing 435 bhp (324 kW; 441 PS) at 6000 rpm and 410 lb⋅ft (556 N⋅m) of torque at 5000 rpm. It has
8134-485: The £304 million of senior secured notes at 9.25% issued in 2011. Aston Martin also had to secure an additional investment of £200 million from its shareholders to fund development of new models. It was reported that Aston Martin's pre-tax losses for 2016 increased by 27% to £162.8 million, the sixth year it continued to suffer a loss. In 2016, the company selected a 90-acre (36 ha) site in St Athan , South Wales for its new factory. The Welsh facility
8232-548: Was announced that Canadian billionaire and investor Lawrence Stroll was leading a consortium, Yew Tree Overseas Limited, who will pay £182 million in return for 16.7% stake in the company. The re-structuring includes a £318 million cash infusion through a new rights issue, generating a total of £500 million for the company. Stroll will also be named as chairman, replacing Penny Hughes . Swiss pharmaceutical magnate Ernesto Bertarelli and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team principal and CEO Toto Wolff have also joined
8330-495: Was designed by Keith Helfet. When American automobile manufacturer Ford acquired both Jaguar and Aston Martin, the new management cancelled the XJ41/42 project in 1990 because of the car's heavier weight than the XJS, the project's high budget and also the employee overtime spent on the car. Seeing the potential of the abandoned project, Walkinshaw based his concept on the XJ41 and tasked Ian Callum to design his envisioned body around
8428-418: Was entrusted to a single technician from a pool of 30, with V8 and V12 variants assembled in under 20 hours. By bringing engine production back to within Aston Martin, the promise was that Aston Martin would be able to produce small runs of higher performance variants' engines. This expanded engine capacity allowed the entry-level V8 Vantage sports car to enter production at the Gaydon factory in 2006, joining
8526-697: Was forced to sell the company (Bamford had already left it in 1920). Later that year, Bill Renwick, Augustus (Bert) Bertelli and investors including Lady Charnwood took control of the business. They renamed it Aston Martin Motors and moved it to the former Whitehead Aircraft Limited Hanworth works in Feltham . Renwick and Bertelli had been in partnership some years and had developed an overhead-cam four-cylinder engine using Renwick's patented combustion chamber design, which they had tested in an Enfield-Allday chassis. The only "Renwick and Bertelli" motor car made, it
8624-414: Was in financial trouble and it was losing its reputation for design and manufacturing excellence. During his 15 years at Jaguar he was responsible for shaping the entire Jaguar line up, including the 1992 XJ220 supercar , the 1995 XJ luxury saloon, the 1996 XK grand tourer and the 1998 S-Type mid-size saloon. Before his death, he also supervised the styling of the 2001 X-Type compact saloon and
8722-461: Was involved in a controversy in which it was accused of using a report to spread disputed information about electric vehicles in the wake of the UK's declaration to end the sale of combustion engine vehicles by 2030, with some in the media dubbing the controversy as " Astongate ". In November 2020, a communications agency called Clarendon Communications published a report comparing the environmental impact of various powertrain options for cars. After
8820-424: Was known as "Buzzbox" and still survives. The pair had planned to sell their engine to motor manufacturers, but having heard that Aston Martin was no longer in production realised they could capitalise on its reputation to jump-start the production of a completely new car. Between 1926 and 1937 Bertelli was both technical director and designer of all new Aston Martins, since known as "Bertelli cars". They included
8918-595: Was positioned as an "entry-level" model below the hand-built V8 Virage introduced a few years earlier. This model was the most-produced Aston Martin automobile up to that point in time, with more than 7,000 built before it was replaced by the DB9 in 2004. The DB7, known internally as the XX project , was made mostly with resources from Jaguar Cars and had the financial backing of the Ford Motor Company , owner of Aston Martin from 1988 to 2007. The DB7's platform
9016-490: Was reported that Bez would be leaving his role as the chief executive officer to take up a more ambassadorial position. On 2 September 2014, Aston Martin announced it had appointed the Nissan executive Andy Palmer as the new CEO with Bez retaining a position as non-executive chairman. As sales had been declining from 2015, Aston Martin sought new customers (particularly wealthy female buyers) with introducing concept cars like
9114-733: Was rescued for a year by Lance Prideaux Brune before passing it on to Sir Arthur Sutherland . In 1936, Aston Martin decided to concentrate on road cars, producing just 700 until World War II halted work. Production shifted to aircraft components during the war. In 1947, old-established (1860) privately owned Huddersfield gear and machine tools manufacturer David Brown Limited bought Aston Martin, putting it under control of its Tractor Group. David Brown became Aston Martin's latest saviour. He also acquired Lagonda , without its factory, for its 2.6-litre W. O. Bentley -designed engine. Lagonda moved operations to Newport Pagnell and shared engines, resources and workshops. Aston Martin began to build
9212-457: Was speculation that AML was about to buy Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini . At the end of the 1970s, there was widespread debate about running MG into the Aston Martin consortium. 85 Conservative MPs formed themselves into a pressure group to get British Leyland to release their grip and hand it over. CH Industrials plc (car components) bought a 10% share in AML. But in July 1980, blaming
9310-595: Was to supply Aston Martin with electrical systems. This technical partnership was intended to support Aston Martin's launch of a new generation of models that would incorporate new technology and engines. In exchange, Mercedes will get as much as 5% equity in Aston Martin and a non-voting seat on its board. The first model to sport the Mercedes-Benz technology was the DB11 , announced at the 86th Geneva Motor Show in March 2016. It featured Mercedes-Benz electronics for
9408-424: Was transferred to the rear wheels by an AP racing twin-plate clutch and the engine was mated to a 6-speed Borg Warner T-56 manual transmission. The car had an estimated top speed of 293 km/h (182 mph) due to a longer final gear ratio. On the exterior, the car had a specially designed body kit and a rear spoiler for improved downforce. The car was fitted with wider Yokohama tyres for enhanced grip and to handle
9506-640: Was unanimously chosen by Aston's board despite fierce competition from other locations as far afield as the Americas, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Europe, as well as two other sites in the UK, believed to be Bridgend and Birmingham . The facility featured three existing 'super-hangars' of MOD St Athan . Construction work of converting the hangars commenced in April 2017. Aston Martin returned to profit in 2017 after selling over 5,000 cars. The company made
9604-817: Was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show held in Detroit in 1996. Both versions initially had a supercharged straight-six engine that has a power output of 340 PS (250 kW; 335 hp) and 361 lb⋅ft (489 N⋅m) of torque. In the United States, the Coupé was sold for US$ 140,000, and the Volante for US$ 150,000. Works Service provided a special Driving Dynamics package, which greatly enhanced performance and handling for drivers who wanted more than what
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