The times aren’t pleasing for Aston Martin as their ageing car line-up and technology mean they are losing sales and trailing behind rivals. Now a rumour from the motoring grapevine has revealed that Aston Martin’s fate could soon be changed as Mercedes-Benz is interested to acquire the British firm.
Mercedes, which is now a minority shareholder of Aston Martin with five-percent ownership, knows the British car maker would not be able to stand alone for long after Ford ditched their shares many years ago. Mercedes chief Dieter Zetsche admitted that “This is a fantastic brand, and we are willing to support its further development,” He added that Aston had offered the CEO’s job to three individuals and had been rebuffed by two but now had a third in prospect. However, he has played down speculations that Mercedes will acquire Aston Martin, for now.
Mercedes’s involvement with Aston Martin began last year with Mercedes’s tuning arm, AMG, which was roped in to develop the new V8 engine that will be supplied to Aston for the next generation Vantage. It is believed that under the requirements from Aston Martin, the next generation of Aston Martin cars will be powered by a 4.0L V8 tuned by AMG.
While this indicates yet another British supercar icon succumbing to foreign ownership, one only needs to look at the current Aston Martin lineup to see that they desperately need new models to keep the company afloat. Jaguar, which used to play second fiddle to Aston Martin, is flying high with the gorgeous F-Type cars and in some ways, have outshined Aston Martin cars recently.
While other supercar marques have already embraced modern turbocharged or hybrid power plants, Aston Martin has soldiered on with the tried-and-tested 6.0L V12’s and 4.8L V8’s. Perhaps some German technology and ownership will bring Aston Martin into greater heights and more possibilities. Sometimes acquisitions aren’t a bad thing, after all, look at what happened to SEAT after VW took over.
[Source: Autocar UK]
